The U.S. women’s national soccer team began the evening with an awkward acknowledgment to its past, belatedly honoring goalkeeper Hope Solo for her 200th international appearance because, well, she was banished from the team shortly after it happened in the summer of 2016.
The rest of the night belonged to its future.
The U.S. women opened their 2018 season Sunday by drilling Denmark 5-1 (with a wee bit of fortune, it would have been 8-1) before an announced crowd of 17,526 at SDCCU Stadium, with two goals and two assists coming from teen-agers who could revitalize a program that had some of the varnish on its glittering legacy chipped away with a string of iffy performances in 2017.
You might have heard of Mallory Pugh. If you haven’t, you will be.
The 19-year-old, 5-foot-4 forward made her senior team debut in this same stadium two years ago, and her assist on the first U.S. goal in Sunday’s friendly – coming less than three minutes after Denmark had taken a 1-0 lead against the run of play – gave her 12 for her career, the most in U.S. history by a teen-ager.
She also scored a pair of spectacular goals. She now has eight, fourth most by a U.S. teen, and still has three months before she turns 20.
Three have come in San Diego. She found the net 25 minutes after subbing on against Ireland on Jan. 23, 2016, and now her first career brace.
“I’ve had good luck here,” Pugh said.
She tends to have good luck everywhere.
Few players have arrived on the senior national team with as much hype and hyperbole as Pugh, who took the rare path of turning pro before she had played a college game. She committed to UCLA out of Mountain Vista High in Highland Ranch, Colo., then delayed her enrollment until January 2017 due after making the 2016 Olympic team (where she scored a goal).
She arrived at UCLA, played a couple scrimmages as part of spring practice … and turned pro in April, signing with the Washington Spirit of the National Women’s Soccer League (as well as Nike).
“I mean, she’s a player who has come a long way but is just kind of scratching the surface as far as the end point,” U.S. coach Jill Ellis said. “The confidence is there. She’s obviously got a great skill set in terms of technique and athleticism. She’s grown in every element of the game, tactically and her sophistication … And I still think there’s even more.”
Or as veteran midfielder Julie Ertz put it: “I see this all the time in practice so it’s not a surprise to me at all. She practices like she plays. The second she came into camp, we knew big things were going to come from her.”
But expectation can become a burden, and soccer is littered with stories of kids who lit up youth national teams but never quite replicated that at the highest level.
“For me, I don’t really listen to the expectations externally (but) more internally the expectations I have on myself,” Pugh said in her soft-spoken, reserved manner. “That’s kind of how I deal with that.”
Are her internal expectations even higher?
“Yes,” she said, laughing, “they are.”
Neither of Pugh’s goals Sunday was assisted, unless you wanted to give the assist to Denmark’s goalkeeper and defenders. The Yanks high pressed out of their 4-3-3 formation, and the Danes valiantly, and vainly, tried to play out of the back. Bad idea.
Pugh pounced on a mistake in the 17th minute that she carried down the right side and crossed to Alex Morgan to make it 1-1. Moments into the second half, she intercepted an errant pass, charged toward goal, spun her defender and ripped a right-footed shot just inside the penalty area that nearly bored a hole through the net. In the 65th minute she did it again, this time cutting to her left foot and ignoring a wide-open Megan Rapinoe at the far post to slot it into the corner.
Ertz volleyed in the second U.S. goal off a header from center back Tierna Davidson, a sophomore on Stanford’s NCAA championship team who was making her national-team debut (and looked like she had been on the team for a decade). She’s also 19.
The giddiest U.S. player, though, wasn’t one of the teens. It was the 25-year-old Ertz (nee Johnson), who celebrated after the final whistle less for smoking the No. 12 team in the FIFA world rankings than hearing the score of the NFL’s NFC Championship Game. Her husband, tight end Zach Ertz, plays for the victorious Philadelphia Eagles.
“I’m excited, I’ve got to book that trip (to the Super Bowl),” Ertz said. “At halftime people kind of gave me the look and the smile, so I knew it. But I was trying to stay focused on my game, so I wasn’t 100-percent sure. I know playoffs are wild, so I wasn’t going to have any emotion until I got the final (score).”
Notable
Solo was honored with a medallion, jersey and flowers shortly before kickoff. The presenter for U.S. Soccer was vice president Carlos Cordeiro, who, like Solo, is among the eight candidates running for federation president at next month’s election ... Solo got her 200th cap in the 2016 Olympics and played twice more before receiving a six-month ban after calling Sweden “cowards” for its defensive approach that knocked out the U.S. in the quarterfinals. Ellis has since moved on with younger goalkeepers. Solo declined requests for comment from the media …
The final U.S. goal came from substitute Crystal Dunn in the 81st minute. However, they also had a shot hit the post, a non-call on a possible penalty and a header by Carli Lloyd appear to cross the goal line before it was cleared. The U.S. finished with 19-6 advantage in shots, 8-1 in shots on goal … Former San Diego Spirit star Julie Foudy called the game for ESPN. Also in attendance was Spirit defender Joy Fawcett … Fans were seated on one side of the stadium’s lower bowl to make it look better for television … The 2018 culminates in October with the CONCACAF qualifying tournament for the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France.