Last of The Season

One last road trip to end out the year, one last stop on the bus. As you can imagine, our U.S. Womens National Team was quite tired as they rolled into Albuquerque, New Mexico. Yet, the support on the ground and in the stadium never fails to refresh our athletes and raise their spirits. As Tash told us, "It’s the last game of the year and we want to give a good show." These games are being played for you, the fans, as a thank you for the support you've shown the team the past few weeks, months, or years.

9,000 fans packed into University Stadium to watch our heroes Abby Wambach, Shannon Boxx, Cat Whitehill, Natasha Kai, and the rest take on Mexico for Game 3 in the series. Up until this game, the U.S. had outscored Mexico 9 goals to 1. With gusting winds and a cold front moving in, would the evening hold another 4+ goals for our team?



The game started off with an interesting lineup of players, due to a handful being out with injuries. Balls were played in the middle of the field, both teams trying to hold possession and make plays happen near the center line. The game remained 0-0 until 11 minutes into the 2nd half when Mexican star Ocampo took the ball herself on the right flank, narrowing down to the 18-yard line, making a beautiful cut to have a clear strike to goal. Goalies hate those low shots that take a bounce or two - and that is exactly the type of shot that Ocampo hit.

Do you really think the U.S. would stand to be 1 goal down? No way, not at all! 5 minutes later, the entire U.S. team had a united burst of much-needed energy. The playmaker Lindsay Tarpley started the run towards the goal, playing a nice ball up to Tash, whom sprinted up the sidelines. Our Flyin' Hawaiian used her speed and pushed towards the Mexican goal, faked out the goalie, then saw Hey-O in her peripheral vision - standing in front of the goal with nobody around her! An easy square pass made for a seemingly easy USA goal.

The game ended like this, 1-1 tie. Our players walked off the field with smiles on their faces knowing that they came back from being down, and showed Albuquerque a great game. As Tash put it, "I think we came out with a lot of heart today and did what we have to do to impress the crowd."