The United States Women’s Soccer Team played its first game of the Paris Olympics on Thursday. The team secured a 3-0 victory over Zambia under coach Emma Hayes, who was hired in May.
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Trinity Rodman scored the competition’s first goal 17 minutes into the game. The 22-year-old later called her scoring technique the “Trin Spin.”
“That was just an instinctual thing because I haven’t really trained that,“ she said, according to ABC News. “But it worked out perfectly.“
“I think in that situation I knew that if I took a touch in front of me, it probably would’ve put me out of the frame of the goal,“ Rodman added. “I was trying to just put her off balance, which worked, so I’m happy about that.”
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THE USWNT IS OFF AND RUNNING. 🇺🇸
Trinity Rodman with a tidy turn and finish to open the scoring against Zambia! #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/yyorSnoMSD
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 25, 2024
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The Paris Olympics could mark a new beginning for the team as they didn’t perform as well as expected in the Tokyo Games and the 2023 World Cup.
“Our connections have been so good,“ Rodman said about coordination between the attackers. “They’re improving every game … and they’re just going to keep getting better.”
Mallory Swanson followed Rodman’s goal by scoring back-to-back in the first half. She scored two goals in just 66 seconds — the fastest by a single player in a major tournament, according to Stats Perform’s North American soccer data’s X, formerly Twitter, account, OptaJack.
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“I’ve dreamed of this moment since I was a little girl,“ Hayes said of her participation in the Games, according to Sports Illustrated. “To be leading the U.S. team out to our first Olympic Games together is something I don’t think I can put into words.”
The U.S. will play Germany on Sunday before competing against Australia on Wednesday.
