The U.S. women's national team are off to the semifinals of the women's soccer event at the Olympic Games, defeating Japan 1-0 on Saturday courtesy of an extra time goal from Trinity Rodman.
The game's lone goal came in the second minute of stoppage time in the first half of extra time, when Crystal Dunn pinged a perfect ball from one end of the field to the other for Rodman. On the right side of goal, Rodman then cut into the box and outmaneuvered a Japan defender before taking an impressive shot from an awkward angle and scoring her third goal of the competition so far.
Rodman's goal was a lone reprieve during a slog of a game for the U.S., who managed just one shot on target in the opening 90 minutes of the game. The four-time gold medalists dominated the first half but had to absorb a lot of attacking pressure from Japan in the second half, a period of time in which the U.S. managed few meaningful spells of possession in attack. They managed to ramp up pressure in the late stages of the game and finally benefit from it with Rodman's strike.
The U.S. return to play on Tuesday in the semifinals, where they will Germany, who beat Canada in penalty kicks. The Americans played the Germans in the group stage and won convincingly, defeating them 4-1 on July 28.