The U.S. women’s national team rebounded on Sunday against European opponents Portugal.
Emma Hayes’ squad used a first-half brace from Olivia Moultrie and an insurance goal from Sam Coffey to down Portugal 3-1 in East Hartford, Connecticut. Longtime USWNT goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher was honored prematch in a ceremony at Rentschler Field.
Moultrie gave the USWNT an early lead in the first minute, racing into the 18-yard box and drilling home left-footed volley into the bottom-left corner.
After Jessica Silva tied the match for Portugal in the fifth minute, the USWNT quickly regained its lead five minutes later.
Jaedyn Shaw gathered possession in the box before laying off a back heel pass for Moultrie to slot home.
The Americans would ice the home victory in the 81st minute with Ally Sentnor and Sam Coffey combining on a corner kick. Sentnor’s low drive was redirected to the bottom corner by Coffey, giving the USWNT a 3-1 lead it would not relinquish.
It marked the USWNT’s ninth victory of 2025.
The USWNT will next close its October window on Wednesday in Kansas City against New Zealand.
Despite the good things including the win by 2 goals, I’m not real happy with how Hayes has the team playing. I heard the commentator say at one point that she wanted the team to make at least 8 passes with each possession. That kind of rule or directive is just stupid. The result was that for most of the game the team and their passes moved at glacial speed. One result is that in the first half the Portugal high press led to a lot of turnovers. I saw the U-17 team play against China maybe 6 days ago and they played much better, moving the ball much quicker and passing the ball better. While this national team was young, you would think they could play at least as well as the U-17 women.
Outside of Emily Sonnett, a very young team for the US women’s starting 11. A much improved performance from the matchup last week, as the US were the better side. Today, it looked like the midfield is really starting to show more depth.
Of the starting MF and attackers only Senator could legally have a celebratory alcoholic drink after the match.
Sentnor not senator I’m blaming autocorrect on that one.