By Lesley Ryder
The USWNT won 4-0 against Jamaica, earning a clean sheet on the night the team honored one of its greatest defenders, Becky Sauerbrunn.
A lopsided first half saw the US retain 87% of possession as they organized their attack against Jamaica.
Early on, Alyssa Thompson picked apart a few seams down the left side, forcing a couple of corner kicks, but the USWNT found their scoring in open play in the 19th minute. Lily Yohannes lifted a pass in to Emily Fox in the box, who made a clever one-touch pass to Ally Sentnor for her third USWNT goal.
Just 9 minutes later, Sentnor pounced on a deflected Alyssa Thompson shot to bag her first brace for country.
According to Opta, 8 of Sentnor’s 9 goals have come from a distance of 15 meters or more. “I think I just see the goal and I get happy and I get excited. I think sometimes I can play a little bit simpler in the box, maybe get a little bit closer, but I just see the goal and I like to shoot.”
The second half continued the dominant possession. A trio of substitutions in the 57th minute saw Lynn Biyendolo enter with Lo’eau Labonta and Lindsey Heaps. Biyendolo made an instant impact on the match, burying a rebound off a magnificent save by the Jamaican keeper on a corner kick effort. Biyendolo added another in the 88th minute on an assist by Avery Patterson.
She’d been knocking at the door in the moments before.
“I had just missed a goal about five minutes earlier, so I knew I needed to get a makeup goal,” Biyendolo joked after the match “And also we have been working on just being ruthless in front of goal.”
Biyendolo’s quick impact earned praise from Hayes after the match. “I think she sets the bar for anybody else that's coming into the match, and for that reason, I'm very, very grateful.”
The ruthless finishing was a point of emphasis for Hayes. “I don’t think we started off the match [ruthless], but I think we ended like that. And I think that's a work in progress.”
Hayes also found progress in the team’s maturity. “I want us to be calm and controlled in what we're doing. And I thought there was a maturity to that, considering it was the second youngest roster we’ve had, caps wise.”
The next camp for the USWNT is just a few weeks away, and with the youth performances this window, Hayes will have a lot to consider.