If you needed any more evidence of the depth of the U.S. women's national team attack, just re-watch Tuesday's easy win over Jamaica. Four goals, two from a newcomer and two from a veteran. This may have been a USWNT group missing several of its best players but, make no mistake: with or without them, this attack is one of the best in the world.
Ally Sentnor scored a first-half brace before Lynn Biyendolo added two of her own as a second-half supersub, sealing a 4-0 win against a wildly overmatched Jamaica team. From the opening whistle, this match was only going in one direction. The game was played on a tilted field, with Jamaica mustering under 20 percent of the possession against an energized and rampant USWNT side.
The USWNT has never lost to Jamaica, have never scored fewer than four goals in any of their six meetings and - remarkably - the Reggae Girlz have never scored against the U.S. The USWNT won 10-0 in 1994, 6-0 in 2008, 6-0 in 2018, 4-0 in 2021 and 5-0 in 2022 - clinching a World Cup spot - and then 4-0 Tuesday.
And this one was as much about hunger as it was about quality. Emma Hayes turned to a younger starting XI - one with the second-fewest number of caps for the USWNT in 24 years - and they rewarded her with an obscene amount of energy and effort.
Lily Yoahnnes ran the show from midfield, while Sam Coffey made her presence felt all over the pitch. Sentnor and Alyssa Thompson routinely ran past Jamaica defenders, while newcomer Kerry Abello made that left-hand side her own in her first senior cap. From minute one to minute 90, the USWNT never let up. Hayes will love that, won't she?
Sentnor, the 2024 U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year, scored a 10-minute first half brace, her first with the USWNT senior team.
"Lily played just an absolutely dime of a ball to Foxy [Emily Fox] and she had absolutely the perfect set," she said on TNT. "I didn’t have to do much. So, really, just all them - and I’m just happy to be able to put it away. We’ve been working on moving the ball. They’re really easy to play with and move the ball - I’m still trying to work to get better for them."
Make it two wins from two this window, both dominant and both impressive. These weren't the strongest teams on the USWNT schedule, but they were the strongest performances from several of the players Hayes will need to count on.
A rising star in Sentnor stepped up again, while a veteran in Biyendolo raised the bar even higher with her own performance. And that's important, because the competition becomes fiercer and fiercer. Tuesday's win is a good reminder of the level that continues to define this USWNT.
GOAL rates the USWNT's players from Energizer Park.
