US Women's Soccer Team Wins the Gold !

BEIJING (August 21, 2008) – The U.S. Women’s Olympic Soccer Team put together a near perfect defensive performance to hold powerful Brazil scoreless for 120 minutes while getting a goal from Carli Lloyd just six minutes into overtime to record a historic 1-0 victory and earn the gold medal.

This victory marked the third gold medal for the U.S. women in four Olympic Games. The USA also won gold in 1996 and 2004 while taking the silver in 2000.

The match was played in front of a raucous crowd of 51,612 on a field made slippery by rain that fell during the entire day and for the first part of the match.

The winning goal came on a shot from outside the box from Lloyd, who took advantage of a nice piece of possession in the U.S. attacking half that saw the ball go from substitute Lauren Cheney to Lloyd, who one-touched it to Amy Rodriguez. The speedy U.S. forward played a cheeky back heel to an overlapping Lloyd, and she took a touch forward before blasting a low left-footed shot into the lower left corner of the goal.