Resiliency leads USWNT to Inaugural W Gold Cup victory

11/03/2024 12:51

Champagne showers, beer slip-n-slides, and yet another major trophy secured for the U.S. women's national team.

Hero of the night, captain Lindsey Horan, lifted the inaugural 2024 W Gold Cup trophy high into the air on Sunday night after she scored the winning goal in first-half stoppage time for a 1-0 victory over Brazil.

As the highly contested first period progressed with Brazil jumping on the front foot early, the Americans grew into the game, improving with each minute played. Their reward came when Sam Coffey won the ball in midfield to release Trinity Rodman down the right wing. Rodman found help in Emily Fox who played a looping cross to the back post where Horan called off Alex Morgan to head home the opener.

“I was screaming at Alex to leave it because I knew I was in on goal,” Horan recalled. “So I keep saying I give her a second assist for that because she heard me and she left it.”

Carrying their lead into the second half, the USWNT logically decided to focus on shutting the door defensively. Though that meant seeing even less of the ball, it also meant none of Brazil's 11 shots on the night hit the target. Alyssa Naeher – who was named Best Goalkeeper of the W Gold Cup – didn't have a save to make. Teammate Jaedyn Shaw was fellow award-winner on the night as the tournament’s Best Player and the USWNT earned the Fair Play Award as a team as well.

In vanquishing some of the demons from their early World Cup exit last year, the USWNT won their mind-blowing 10th consecutive competitive final while keeping their opposition out of the back of the net in the last six.

"I think it speaks to a level of focus. It speaks to the level of detail that we put into each of these games," analyzed Naeher. "I think every time we’ve gone into a final we embrace the big moment."

That recent finals record speaks for itself but these international tournaments are becoming continually more difficult to win as the quality of opponent increases, requiring new tests of mentality and resilience. This inaugural W Gold Cup was no exception.

Back in the final group stage match of this tournament, the USWNT was thoroughly outplayed by Mexico in just their second loss in 43 meetings at the hands of their southern neighbor. The Americans hadn't lost on home soil in nearly a quarter of a century and needed a robust response.

"Grit is a big part of our DNA and who we are and I’m just really proud of the group for being proud of that," interim head coach Twila Kilgore outlined the importance of her squad's resilience. "It’s not always a narrative that people celebrate all over the world [but] it’s definitely a part of who we are."

In the quarterfinal round, the Americans switched on that mentality shift with a 3-0 bounce-back win over a challenging Colombia side. Striking the balance of having a goldfish's memory to swiftly put a devastating result behind you while reminding oneself of a desire never to feel those painful emotions again is an extremely difficult task, but one the USWNT tackled head on.

"I think we're resilient," Coffey echoed her coach's sentiments. "I don’t think a lot of teams could lose the way we did against Mexico, which was super disappointing and unacceptable from us, but respond the way that we did. I’m not sure we get here without that loss."

It was a loss that asked many questions of the Americans, to which they seemed to have all of the answers en route to their latest triumph. Following the rebound win over Colombia, another major test of the team's grit presented itself in the form of mother nature. Playing on what would best be described as a swimming pool with grassy patches, the USWNT simply had to find a way to win against Canada in the semifinal, even if it wasn't pretty.

Aside from just the ugliness of mud ruining the Americans pristine white jerseys, the USWNT had to get scrappy to earn the win. Overcoming a late equalizer in regulation as well as second equalizer from the penalty spot in stoppage time of extra time, the Americans trip to the final was eventually secured on penalties.

"The last game that we just played against Canada was the most wild game of our lives," Horan reminisced for a moment, "but being able to do that and come in and play in this type of game – each game has been been very, very, very difficult. So, the mentality of the team was awesome, and yeah, we grinded it out and we got that dub."

Whatever it takes. Perseverance, determination, mentality, resilience, and grit. 

In the final which resulted from lessons learned, all of these experiences proved crucial in delivering the silverware. As Kilgore put it, "We talked a lot about making sure that we won tonight to validate the work that we’ve done over the course of the tournament."

Work, validated.