Lauren Holiday works the ball through a defender for Costa Rica in the first half.
photo by Greg Davick
After an hour of of heavy rain, thunder and lightning, some members of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team turned the tables on fans who waited out a long weather delay Wednesday night at Finley Stadium.
As the team charged back onto the field, it was the players who were cheering for the fans that had returned to watch the team’s international friendly match against Costa Rica after a severe storm had forced them from the stands.
It was worth the wait.
The defending World Cup champions finished with a 7-2 victory in front of 20,535 red, white, blue and poncho-clad fans, many of whom waited through the storm.
“The crowd was awesome,” midfielder Carli Lloyd said. “This was probably one of the best crowds we’ve played in front of. It was incredible, especially after the rain delay. They came back and were still cheering loudly. It was just a great atmosphere to play in.”
The USA women struck twice before the lightning did, storming to a 2-0 lead against the team they defeated 8-0 last week at Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field in the USA’s first appearance since winning the 2015 Women’s World Cup championship.
Wednesday’s match in Chattanooga was the second of 10 on the team’s cross-country Victory Tour, during which the USA squad will be celebrating its World Cup title while also preparing for the 2016 CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament next February.
Under clearer skies during pre-game ceremonies, the Chattanooga crowd cheered as midfielder Lori Chalupny was honored for earning her 100th cap, and grew louder as the team’s lineup was introduced. Some of the loudest cheers were reserved for star keeper Hope Solo, all-time leading goal scorer Abby Wambach, and World Cup Golden Ball recipient Lloyd, whose hat trick led the USA to the title on July 5.
Lloyd wasted no time putting her goal-scoring ability on display for the fans who filled Finley. At the 3:39 mark, Wambach narrowly missed a header on her cross; then, a little less than three minutes later, Lloyd’s free kick from 31 yards out banged off the crossbar and bounced down inside the line to give the USA a 1-0 lead.
Rain began falling three minutes into the match, and in the 10th minute, Wambach just missed another scoring opportunity when she slipped on the wet turf in front of the goal with a cross from Megan Rapinoe headed straight for her feet. The USA maintained its pressure on the Coast Rica goal, and in the 13th minute, Heather O’Reilly followed a hard strike from Lloyd into the goal for a 2-0 lead.
The match was quickly halted once the first lightning strike was spotted less than two minutes after O’Reilly’s goal, and the strikes grew stronger after the players headed for the locker room and fans exited the stadium. Many remained in their seats during a heavy downpour, but after the rain stopped, continued lightning forced officials to begin clearing the stands around 8 p.m.
When the match finally resumed at 8:50, the USA players made sure the thousands of fans who made the decision to wait out the storm were rewarded. With a steady rain still falling, they reeled off four quick goals for a 6-0 lead.
O’Reilly said she and her teammates had no difficulty in getting ready for their return to the field.
“It was harder to keep up locked inside the building, actually,” she said. “This is where we find our joy, and once we got out there and started knocking the ball around, the adrenaline was flowing. This team is resilient. We’ve bounced back through tough games and tough moments, and we did that again tonight.”
The match’s third goal came less than three minutes after play resumed, and gave fans one of the moments most had hoped to see -- a goal by all-time scoring leader Wambach. When she finished a ball from Chalupny, it marked the forward’s 184th of her career.
Team USA added to its lead at the 19:26 mark when Lloyd stepped into a corner from Rapinoe, and about three minutes later, O’Reilly headed in a cross from Wambach. They took a 6-1 lead into an abbreviated halftime after another corner from Rapinoe resulted in a Costa Rica own goal,before the visitors responded by slipping a ball past Solo in the final minutes of the half.
In the second period, Costa Rica added a goal against keeper Alyssa Naeher, who replaced Solo at the start of the half, and fan favorite Alex Morgan scored on a ball from Amy Rodriguez to make it 7-2 in the 81st minute.
The win improved team USA to 15-1-3 for 2015, but most would agree the match was about more than just a victory on a night that was as much about soccer as it was celebration, both of a team and a city that have recently gained national attention.
The World Cup championship renewed the spotlight on the women’s soccer team, while recent tragedy put Chattanooga in the headlines. The July 16 shooting that resulted in the death of five military members was remembered at Wednesday’s game by a moment of silence before the match, black armbands worn by the USA players, and the autographed jerseys they donated to an auction to raise money for the Chattanooga Heroes Fund.
“Every time you put on the U.S. jersey, it truly is an honor,” said O’Reilly, who was named the Woman of the Match. “We know that it’s more than a sport. We know the power and the influence we have as athletes, and with a situation like what happened here in Chattanooga, to be able to put together this performance and bring smiles to people’s faces and encouragement to this city, that’s what we’re most proud of.
Chattanooga also drew attention this summer for setting the national record for attendance at an amateur soccer match when the Chattanooga FC played in the National Premier Soccer League’s championship, and fans broke another attendance record on Wednesday. The sellout crowd of 20,535 was the largest ever in attendance for a USA standalone friendly match played in the Southeast.
With a national television audience watching via the ESPN2 cameras, and former World Cup champion Julie Foudy in the broadcast booth, many of the fans worked to give Finley a familiar feel Wednesday. Many members of the CFC’s Chattahooligan fan club made their presence known with chants, cheers and motions from the end zone grass that helped make the match a moment to remember for fans and players alike.
“Obviously Chattanooga has gone through a trying time, and I think that for us to be able to play here gives the people of this city something to cheer for,” Wambach said. “The crowd was amazing, even after the thunderstorm. It was a huge crowd and there were huge cheers, and hopefully we gave this city something positive to cheer for. That’s something that I’m really proud of, and this was really special for us.”
(E-mail Jaime Barrett at jaimenbarrett@gmail.com)