USWNT gets4-0 Win against New Zealand in St. Louis

Saturday, April 4, 2015 the United States Women’s National Team faced New Zealand in an International Friendly match. The game was one of a kind, held at Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team. The 3 P.M. kickoff was what some soccer lovers would call perfect. The weather was sunny, 59 degrees and the stadium was full of fans. The game was a record-setting attendance for the USWNT with 35,817 viewers in the stands all decked out on their red, white and blue.

This game was all about the GOALS. Goals mainly from defenders! The USWNT held NZL 4-0 with goals coming from Meghan Klingenberg (defender) in the 14th minute, Lori Chalupny (defender and STL native) in the 76th minute, goal three was brought to us by Julie Johnston (defender) in the 78th minute, and the fourth goal brought to us finally by a middy, Morgan Brian in the 81st minute.

Hope Solo was rarely tested in the goal as the USWNT held NZL to ZERO shots on goal and only two shots the entire game. Unfortunately for New Zealand keeper Erin Nayler, the U.S. shoved 18 shots, 11 of those being on goal, in her zone.

Lori Chalupny, the hometown girl told reporters that it was good to be home. She not only scored her first goal in five years for the national team, but she also scored it with her family in the audience, and was awarded the Budweiser Woman of the Match. Her remarks on playing at home in front of 35,817 fans who traveled endless miles to watch the game sounded like this, “It was incredible. It kind of felt like a dream. The atmosphere was awesome. We looked around as a team and just felt so grateful to play in front of crowds like these.”

. Coach Ellis said she was pleased with how the game went, a lot of positives and many players coming off the bench who helped out on the field to keep the clean sheet against a team with good pressure. New Zealand is considered a good contender for this summer’s World Cup and was a great test to the USWNT in the final matches preparing them for Canada.

In St. Louis Megan Rapinoe gained her 100th cap and Hope Solo debuted the new bright red goalkeeper kit for the 2015 season.

Being at the game, seeing Busch Stadium filled with 35k soccer fanatics, especially for the women’s team is something I will never forget. Being involved in the sport growing up, I have got to witness the love, excitement, and respect our women’s team has gained and is continuing to gain. In a country that is finally giving soccer some shine, a few years behind the rest of the world, it brings a smile to my face seeing this many people come together to support our team and prepare to have continued support this summer in Canada.

On a side note, after the game I got to meet my hero, Hope Solo for the fourth time and I FINALLY got my picture with her after trying for six years. It was a day that I will always remember. I’m proud of our girls and can’t wait for Canada!

Tickets Sales Climbing for USA Soccer

April will be a big month for the men and women’s USA national soccer teams. Both the USWNT and USMNT have home matches in the month of April that have already sold record amounts of tickets. The women’s team could possibly be playing in front of their largest home crowd in years, better yet, history! Ussoccer.com announced that just two hours into ticket sales for the April match more than 23,500 tickets were sold. As I read the US Soccer news release about the extreme ticket sales and the blog post from Stars and Stripes FC I noticed multiple similarities and differences.

Similarities included both posts talking about the extreme number of tickets already sold. However, the US Soccer post expanded the details of the situation and explained how Busch Stadium has already had to open up the upper level seating for the match. When reading the Stars and Stripes blog you get a little more opinion based take on the situation: “Yes, it is a World Cup year, but New Zealand is hardly a big name opponent, the match is still two months before the World Cup and playing in a baseball stadium isn’t exactly a huge lure.”

Obviously you would not find the official site of US Soccer saying that Busch Stadium “isn’t exactly a huge lure.” Also a big difference between the two posts is the detail which made US Soccer more credible. They have a lot of information about how to and where to purchase tickets.

Throughout the Stars and Stripes post there are multiple sentences that use a more relaxed language, such as in the last paragraph where the writer, Ryan Rosenblatt, says: The last time the U.S. women played in front of 25,000 people at home was way back in 2003, when 25,253 turned out to see the Americans in the World Cup third place match. With two months left to sell tickets for the New Zealand clash, they could top 30,000 and make for an incredible atmosphere in St. Louis.”

In my opinion the US Soccer article is more helpful in gathering information about the upcoming games in April. However if I were to be searching for a quick read to gather small amounts of information about the ticket sales I would probably read the Stars and Stripes blog before the US Soccer article.