The U.S. Women's National Team won their opening match of the 2018 Concacaf Women's Championship against Mexico 6-0 on Thursday, Oct. 4 in Cary, N.C. The tournament serves as the qualifying competition for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, and the U.S. will continue its quest to qualify vs. Panama on Sunday, Oct. 7, at 5 p.m. ET (FS1, UDN).

FRISCO, Texas. (Oct. 17, 2018) – The U.S. Women’s National Team finished a perfect 5-0-0 run and defeated Canada 2-0 in the 2018 Concacaf Women’s Championship title game on Wednesday night. It was the sixth regional title for the USA, which outscored opponents 26-0 in the tournament.

Like in its previous four games, the USA found the opening goal inside the first 10 minutes of the match when Rose Lavelle scored from the top of the box in the second minute of play to put the USA ahead. The rest of the half went scoreless but as it tends to be when these teams meet, it was a physical matchup that saw Canada’s Rebecca Quinn and Allysha Chapman earn yellow cards in the 26th and 31st minutes, and Tobin Heath pick up a caution in the 33rd. The teams also combined for 16 fouls in the first half.

The USA outshot Canada 7-3 in the first 45, with Canada only managing to get one of its own on target, which Alyssa Naeher did well to push wide.

In the second half, the USA did not allow Canada to get a shot on goal, and outshot its northern neighbor 5-1, for a final 12-4 shot advantage. The U.S. continued to push throughout the period and in the 89th minute got its second goal when Morgan finished a Lindsey Horan cross with her left foot for her tournament-leading seventh goal.

The USA earned three individual awards, with Morgan winning Golden Boot as the top scorer of the tournament, Julie Ertz – who was on the 2014 Concacaf Women’s Championship roster but did not play – winning the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament, and the team won the Fair Play Award. Additionally,  Kelley O’Hara, Abby Dahlkemper, Crystal Dunn, Ertz, Horan, Tobin Heath, Megan Rapinoe and Morgan earned Concacaf Best XI honors for their play throughout the tournament.

Earlier in the day, in the Third-Place Match, Jamaica defeated Panama 4-2 in a penalty shootout, after the teams tied 2-2 through regulation and extra-time, to earn an automatic berth to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Jamaica becomes the first Caribbean nation in history to advance to a Women’s World Cup. Panama will now go into a two-leg intercontinental playoff and face Argentina for a chance to secure a spot in France.

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Goal Scoring Rundown:
USA – Rose Lavelle, 2nd minute: Lindsey Horan made a powerful run into the left side of the penalty area and crossed into the middle. Shelina Zadorsky cleared the ball, but only to the top of the box where Lavelle collected and then fired a left-footed grass-cutter that skipped into the lower right corner from 20 yards out. With the goal, the USA continued its streak of scoring inside the first 10 minutes of all five games in this tournament. USA 1, CAN 0. WATCH GOAL.

USA – Alex Morgan (Lindsey Horan), 89th minute: Crystal Dunn recovered a poor clearance at the top of the box and passed it to Horan, who was inside the 18-yard box on the left side. Horan looked up and saw Morgan in the middle. She crossed the ball into the six-yard box where an incoming Morgan finished with her left foot through traffic and over Stephanie Labbé for her seventh goal of the tournament. USA 2, CAN 0. WATCH GOAL. FINAL.

Additional Player Notes:

• Rose Lavelle scored her sixth international goal tonight in her 18th career cap. It was her third goal of the tournament.
• Alex Morgan scored her 97th international goal. She scored seven goals throughout the tournament to up her 2018 total to 17. She’s scored 24 goals over her last 24 WNT matches. It was her 151st cap. At age 29, she sits in sole possession of seventh place on the USA's all-time goal scoring list and is third all-time in two-goal games (22), behind only Abby Wambach (37) and Mia Hamm (28). With her hat trick against Japan on July 26, the fourth of her career, Morgan is now tied with Michelle Akers for third all-time in multi-goal games (26) behind Abby Wambach (45) and Mia Hamm (38).
• Lindsey Horan, the 2018 NWSL MVP, has played in every game for the USA this year. She earned her eighth assist of 2018, second most on the team, and led the team in assists during the tournament with five.
• Alyssa Naeher earned her 20th career shutout tonight in her 37th cap.

Additional Team Notes:

• The USA is 16-0-2 in 2018, with wins against Denmark, Germany, England, Mexico (thrice), China PR (twice), Japan, Brazil, Chile (twice), Panama, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica and Canada; and ties against Australia and France.
• The USA is unbeaten in its last 26 matches (23-0-3), and has outscored its opponents 91-17 through that stretch, scoring in all 26 games.
• The USA is now 32-1-0 all-time in World Cup qualifying, including 18-0-0 at home, and hasn’t conceded a goal in 11 straight WCQ games (1053 minutes) dating back to 2010. The last goal allowed came in the 27th minute against Mexico on Nov. 5, 2010.
• Under Jill Ellis in World Cup qualifying the USA has a record of 10-0-0 with 47 goals scored and 0 against.
• The WNT hasn’t conceded a goal in 704 minutes in 2018, with the last one coming against Brazil during the Tournament of Nations on Aug. 2.
• The U.S. women have won six of seven WCQ tournaments, finishing first in the qualifying competitions for the 1991, 1995, 2003, 2007, 2015 and 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cups.
• The USA has scored 184 goals in WWC qualifying while allowing five.
• Six of the USA’s 26 goals in this tournament came via headers.
• Ten different players scored in the tournament for the USA (26 total goals): Alex Morgan (7), Tobin Heath (4), Carli Lloyd (3), Megan Rapinoe (3), Rose Lavelle (3), Julie Ertz (2), Crystal Dunn, Lindsey Horan, Christen Press and Samantha Mewis.
• U.S. WNT head coach Jill Ellis made three subs tonight: Carli Lloyd for Rose Lavelle in the 88th minute, Mallory Pugh for Tobin Heath in the 92nd minute and Casey Short for Crystal Dunn in the 23rd.

With a ticket to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup on the line, the U.S. Women’s National Team will resume Group A play at the 2018 Concacaf Women’s Championship against Panama on Oct. 7 at 5 p.m. ET on FS1 & UDN. Panama currently sits in second place in the standings – behind the USA – after defeating Trinidad & Tobago 3-0 in its opening match of the tournament. The USA is coming off a resounding 6-0 victory against Mexico that featured goals from Alex Morgan (2), Megan Rapinoe (2), Julie Ertz and Tobin Heath.

WCQ GROUP A STANDINGS

The USA and seven other countries are participating in the 2018 Concacaf Women’s Championship with three direct berths available to France. FOX Sports, the home of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, is showing the 2018 Concacaf Women's Championship across the FOX Sports family of networks. For viewers on the go, matches can be streamed live via FOXSports.com and the FOX Sports app. FOX Sports will open the authentication level on the FOX Sports App to FS1 authentication, meaning you don’t need to have FS2 on your cable or satellite TV service to watch the USA matches.

• How to Watch the 2018 Concacaf Women’s Championship .

The U.S. team holds a 12-0-2 record in 2018 and has not lost since the 2017 Tournament of Nations. It has gone 19-0-3 over the past 15 months and has averaged almost three goals per game, outscoring its opponents 71-17 over those 22 matches while scoring in all 22 games. Since the 2017 SheBelieves Cup, the USA has failed to score in a game just once (against Australia in the 1-0 loss in 2017 Tournament of Nations). That’s a 27-game span.

The WNT’s 2018 has so far featured wins over Denmark, Germany, England, Mexico (thrice), China PR (twice), Japan, Brazil and Chile (twice), along with ties vs. France and Australia.

Follow all the #USWNT and tournament action on Twitter using #OneNationOneTeam and #CWC on @ussoccer_wnt and @ussoccer_esp, and on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat (ussoccer_wnt).

U.S. Women’s National Team WCQ Roster By Position (Caps/Goals)
GOALKEEPERS (2): 18- Ashlyn Harris (Orlando Pride; 17/0), 1- Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars; 34/0)
DEFENDERS (7): 7- Abby Dahlkemper (NC Courage; 24/0), 19- Crystal Dunn (NC Courage; 70/23), 20- Hailie Mace (UCLA; 2/0), 5- Kelly O’Hara (Utah Royals FC; 109/2), 4- Becky Sauerbrunn (Utah Royals FC; 144/0), 14- Casey Short (Chicago Red Stars; 25/0), 2- Emily Sonnett (Portland Thorns FC; 22/0)
MIDFIELDERS (5): 6- Morgan Brian (Chicago Red Stars; 79/6), 8- Julie Ertz (Chicago Red Stars; 67/17); 9- Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns FC; 57/6), 16- Rose Lavelle (Washington Spirit; 14/3), 3- Samantha Mewis (NC Courage; 38/7)
FORWARDS (6): 17-Tobin Heath (Portland Thorns; 139/22), 10- Carli Lloyd (Sky Blue FC; 260/102), 13- Alex Morgan (Orlando Pride; 148/92), 12- Christen Press (Utah Royals FC; 104/45), 11- Mallory Pugh (Washington Spirit; 38/12), 15- Megan Rapinoe (Seattle Reign FC; 141/40)

STORYLINES

USA vs. Panama: The Women’s National Team for the USA and Panama have only played once in the history of the programs at the senior level. For Panama, this is its third time competing in a Concacaf Women’s Championship. Panama competed in the final round of the 2002 and 2006 Concacaf qualifying tournaments, meeting the USA in 2002, a 9-0 loss in Seattle, Washington, in a game that saw 2018 National Soccer Hall of Fame inductee Tiffeny Milbrett tie a U.S. record with five goals in a single match. Shannon MacMillan scored twice, while Tiffany Roberts and Abby Wambach also scored.

100 Goals Watch: After adding two more goals against Mexico on Oct. 4 – the third time this year she scored a brace vs. Mexico – Alex Morgan now has 92 goals and at age 29 sits in sole possession of seventh place on the USA’s all-time goal scoring list. She has scored 19 goals over her last 21 WNT matches through the end of 2017 and deep into 2018. With her hat trick against Japan on July 26, the fourth of her career, Morgan is now fourth all-time in multi-goal games (24) behind Abby Wambach (45), Mia Hamm (38) and Michelle Akers (25). She has 20 career two-goal games.

Ticket to France 2019 on the Line: The 2018 Concacaf Women’s Championship will qualify three teams to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France and a fourth into a two-game playoff with Argentina, the third-place team from South America. The USA is playing all its group matches at the 10,000-seat Sahlen’s Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C. After round-robin play, the top two finishers from Group A, as well as the top two from Group B which will be playing its group games in Edinburg, Texas, will move on to the all-important semifinals in Frisco, Texas. The winners of the semifinals qualify for France, along with the winner of the Third-Place Match. The loser of the Third-Place Match heads into the two-game playoff.

2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup Qualifiers: The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be held from June 7-July 7 in nine cities in France. So far, 15 countries have qualified with teams from Concacaf, Africa and Oceania still to be determined. The Final Draw for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be conducted in Paris on December 8. This will be the second World Cup with 24 nations, up from 16 that were in Germany in 2011. The qualified nations are: host, France; England, Germany, Italy, Norway, Scotland, Spain and Sweden from UEFA. Brazil and Chile from South America, and Australia, China PR, Japan, Korea Republic and Thailand from the AFC.

Concacaf Women’s World Cup Qualifying History: The USA is 28-1-0 all-time in CONCACAF Women’s World Cup qualifying, including 14-0-0 at home. This will be the seventh Concacaf Cup qualifying tournament that USA has contested. The U.S. women have won five of six of those tournaments, finishing first in the qualifying competitions for the 1991, 1995, 2003, 2007 and 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cups. The USA finished third in the qualifying tournament for the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup and had to go through a two-game playoff against Italy to qualify for Germany 2011. The USA played Canada in the championship game of each of the first four tournaments in which both participated (the USA did not have to qualify as host in 1999). The USA has scored 164 goals in WWC qualifying (an average of 5.7 per game) while allowing five, and has played nine different countries in World Cup qualifying with Mexico being the most common opponent with seven games between the teams.

Qualifying Goal Scorers: Seven players on this U.S. roster have scored in Women’s World Cup qualifying: Carli Lloyd (7), Megan Rapinoe (5), Alex Morgan (4), Tobin Heath (3), Christen Press (2), Julie Ertz (1) and Morgan Brian (1). With one more goal, Lloyd would tie Brandi Chastain, April Heinrichs and Tiffeny Milbrett for sixth all-time in World Cup qualifying. Since the start of 2017, four players have been directly involved (goals or assists) in more than 10 goals: Morgan (24), Rapinoe (19), Pugh (13) and Horan (12). Since the start of 2016, six players have at least 20 goals+assists for the U.S. in international play:

Caps in Cary : The U.S. WNT has played eight matches at Salhen’s Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park, home to the 2018 NWSL Champion North Carolina Courage. The USA has won all eight games in Cary and allowed just three goals over those games, two in a dramatic 3-2 win vs. Australia in 2008 that was played in the pouring rain and featured a last gasp game-winner from Carli Lloyd.