Mallory Swanson scored in a sixth straight match to help to help the U.S. women’s national team defeat Brazil 2-1 in Frisco, Texas, on Wednesday to win its fourth straight SheBelieves Cup.
After Alex Morgan laced a long shot in the third minute of first-stoppage time for the lead, Swanson doubled the lead in the 63rd as the Americans won all three of their matches in the tournament.
Ludmila cut the deficit to 2-1 in the 90th minute with a header for Brazil, the first goal allowed by the U.S. in five games this year.
The U.S. entered needing at worst a one-goal loss to clinch the championship, its sixth in the eight years of the tournament. The Americans also won in 2016 and ’18 before going on its current run of titles beginning in 2020.
A Brazilian victory by two or more goals would have tied them atop the standings with the U.S. at six points and given them the championship based on the head-to-head win.
Persistence paid off on Morgan’s goal — her 121st in 204 international games. She was denied three minutes earlier when she was controversially called offside before scoring, but given another opportunity, Morgan responded.
Pouncing a loose ball after a Swanson attempt was blocked, she ripped a 25-yard, curling strike to the left corner.
It was her 14th since giving birth to her daughter, Charlie, in 2020, making Morgan the USWNT all-time leader in goals as a mom.
Early in the second half, Brazil’s Adriana sent a shot off the crossbar before Swanson put the game out of reach with her seventh goal in five matches in 2023 plus another in the final match last year. She has 32 goals in 87 U.S. games.
She finished a pass from Rose Lavelle, to become the first player to score in all three matches of the SheBelieves Cup and her eighth career goal in the tourney are the most ever, breaking a tie with teammate Megan Rapinoe.
Swanson scored four of the five goals U.S. goals in this year’s tournament.
–Field Level Media
