U.S. Women’s Soccer Team welcomes interim coach Ellis with 3-0 win over China

U.S. keeper Hope Solo / Photo by Tri Le

San Diego – The United States Women's National Team welcomed interim coach Jill Ellis with a resounding 3-0 win over visiting China PR before 12,857 fans at Qualcomm Stadium Thursday night.  It was the Americans' second consecutive win over their Far East rival, and concluded the two-game international friendly series.  The U.S. also won 2–0 in Colorado this past Sunday, prior to head coach Tom Sermanni’s abrupt firing.

The U.S. WNT controlled the tempo of the game with brisk ball movement and a suffocating defense. China only had 2 shots on goal compared to 12 for the U.S. Team. They had only 3 shots overall and drew only 1 Corner Kick to the 7 for the U.S. WNT.

Carli Lloyd opened the scoring in the 20th minute with her 49th career goal off a pass from Lauren Holiday (the 30th assist of her career) from 12 yards out.  She added her second goal (unassisted) 2 minutes later on a left-footed shot from 24 yards out that barely found its way inside the left post. Lloyd was chosen as the Woman of the Match for her efforts.

U.S. v China / Photo by Tri Le

Sydney Leroux continued her outstanding play and finished off the scoring with her 29th career goal (and team-leading 5th goal of 2014) less than a minute into the second half.  It came off a pass from Megan Rapinoe after a bad clearance attempt by China’s Wang Shanshan.

Hope Solo made 1 diving save and completed her 70th shutout with the U.S. WNT. The shutout moved her to within 1 of the U.S. record of 71, held by Briana Scurry.

Ellis, the former U.S. Soccer Director of Development, was leading her 8th game as interim coach of the U.S. WNT and moved her record to 6-0-2 with the win.  She previously served as an interim coach in 2012, earning a 5-0-2 record following Pia Sundhage's departure.

The next game for the U.S. WNT will be on Thursday, May 8th, against rival Canada at Investors Group Field in Winnipeg, Canada.  In addition, many of the team's members will move on to the second season of the National Women’s Soccer League.  The U.S. is now 32-8-12 all-time against China P.R.

By Lazaro Cruz
Contributing Writer for TheDailySportsHerald.com