Teenager Jaedyn Shaw scored a pair of goals in the first 17 minutes, starting the U.S. to a 4-0 win over Argentina on Friday in a group-play game of the CONCACAF W Gold Cup at Dignity Health Sports Park.
With the victory, the U.S. (2-0) clinched a spot in the quarterfinals heading into Monday’s group-play finale with Mexico, which was an 8-0 winner over the Dominican Republic in Friday’s first game.
With the top two teams in each four-team group assured of a place in the next round, Mexico (1-0-1) can also advance with a win or draw against the U.S. or a Dominican win over Argentina.
Playing in front of a crowd of 8,315, Shaw, at 19 the youngest player in Friday’s starting lineup, gave the U.S. a quick 1-0 lead in the 10th minute, driving a low right-footed shot just inside the near post. Captain Lindsey Horan set up the score with a quick restart after a foul, catching Argentine keeper Laurina Oliveros by surprise.
After a tying goal from Argentina was erased by an offside call, Shaw doubled the lead, volleying home a Rose Lavelle cross from the center of the box in the 17th minute. With Shaw’s brace coming three days after a two-goal game from 18-year-old Olivia Moultrie in the Gold Cup opener, it marked the first time two teenagers have scored multiple goals in consecutive games for the U.S.
Alex Morgan then made it 3-0 a minute later, heading in a Casey Krueger cross. The score was the second in as many games for Morgan, who entered the tournament having gone 363 minutes without an international goal. She has 123 for her career. Horan closed out the scoring with a penalty-kick goal in the 78th minute after Argentina’s Miriam Mayorga was called for a hand ball and given her second yellow card of the match, forcing her team to finish the game short-handed.
Horan lost out on a second score in the final minute of regulation when her goal was disallowed by an offside call. The U.S. outshot Argentina 21-2.
In the first game, Mexico ran out to a 6-0 first-half lead behind two goals and two assists from Jacqueline Ovalle. El Tri also got first-half scores from Nicolette Hernández , Karen Luna, Rebeca Bernal and Diana Ordóñez, plus second-half goals from Jasmine Casarez and Mayra Pelayo-Bernal in posting its most one-sided victory since an 11-0 win over Anguilla in April 2022.
Mexico put 19 shots on target against the Dominicans, who have been outshot 60-3 and outscored 13-0 in their two games.
