Before the United States women’s national soccer team stepped onto the field in Columbus, Ohio, for its SheBelieves Cup match against Canada, rain poured down. For the nearly sold-out crowd, it was an annoyance, but the teams kept their focus before the start of the eventual 1-0 United States victory.
By the time the opening whistle blew, the rain was gone and all that remained were gray skies and a matchup indicative of the growth of the United States national team under head coach Emma Hayes. “It was one of my favorite performances, because they’re growing up,” Hayes told reporters.
While Hayes did not lift any SheBelieves Cup opponent over another earlier in the week, the United States went with arguably its strongest starting XI from the players included in the camp. While captain and midfielder Lindsey Heaps began the match on the bench following a full 90-minute performance in a 2-0 win over Argentina on Sunday, regulars Naomi Girma, Emily Sonnett, Rose Lavelle, Sam Coffey and Trinity Rodman started for Hayes.
For some fans, seeing Rodman start came with sighs of relief after the young Washington Spirit star forward took a knee to the back against Argentina just three days prior.
Add in forwards Mallory Swanson and Sophia Wilson, who missed camp with their return from maternity leave, and Wednesday looked like a World Cup lineup. The play on the field matched its intensity, with the tournament on its way in the summer of 2027.
Canada entered the matchup a different side from the one that fell 3-0 to the Stars and Stripes on July 2, 2025. Back then, the United States’ northern neighbors were six months into the tenure of brand new program leader Casey Stoney. On Wednesday, Canada looked every bit a team run by a former center back.
“Canada are a different team, and it showed and I knew that going into it, I knew they were at a better place. And I said that to Casey [Stoney] at the end of the game,” Hayes said. “This was a much tougher test than July. I thought July was just comfortable everywhere, surprisingly so. And I think for Casey that she knew that there was work to be done with that team.”
The final scoreline showed the growth of Canada. Early in the match, the United States had chances on goal. In the fifth minute, Rodman showed no worse for wear as she burst down the right sideline that ended with a cross into a crowded box of Canadian defense. Soon after, Coffey nearly got the Red, White and Blue on the scoreboard when fellow Lavelle sent a cross into the box that Coffey sent far over the crossbar.
Both chances came under duress because Canada did not allow too many easy opportunities. Offensively, though, the best Canada could do early on was capitalize on United States mistakes. Much of the United States roster came from the NWSL, which is still in preseason preparation.
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That does not apply to forward Alyssa Thompson. The 2025 Chelsea signing played down the left sideline with her younger sister, Gisele Thompson, which was an unprecedented move for Hayes with the siblings.
“We’ve never played on the left side together, and I think it works a lot better than playing on the right,” Alyssa Thompson told reporters. “I like playing on left too, so it was nice just having her behind me, knowing that she’s going to stop anything coming behind us, but also in the attack, she’s a really big threat, and so am I.”
When Canada moved into its offensive third on the side of the Thompson sisters, there was one of them there to slow down the attack. Late in the match, Alyssa Thompson chased down the opposition, got in front and did the human equivalent of a brake check to earn a whistle and change possession.
In the 87th minute, Hayes pulled the older sister, Alyssa, out of the match. Normally, the player on their way out gets a high five, hug or word of encouragement. Hayes stopped the 21-year old Chelsea star and put her arm around her shoulders. After the match, Hayes would not say what was shared between the two, but Alyssa Thompson gave an idea.
“She [Hayes] was just saying how good Giselle [Thompson] did today, and just how we play really well together, and being on the left side with her is really fun, and she loved watching us play together.”
They were not the only youth on display. Kansas City Current forward Ally Sentnor played the No. 9 role for Hayes and nearly put the United States on the board in the first half. With a minute left before first half stoppage time, Canadian captain and center back Vanessa Gilles had possession but fell, losing the ball to a charging Sentnor.
The former University of North Carolina Tar Heel star had a shot on target, but goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan made it difficult when she closed down on the striker, giving the Sentnor little room to aim and shoot.
Sentnor’s shot went wide right, but she was not letting herself get off the hook. “I definitely should have finished that one anyway,” Sentnor told reporters. “But, you know, I think it’s really important to kind of have that goldfish mindset, like we said, shake off those finishes and then be able to put one in the back of the net in the second half.”
That is exactly what she did in the 55th minute off a United States corner kick. Cincinnati, Ohio, native Lavelle, just two hours up the interstate from her hometown, sent Ohio-based fans home happy when her corner kick bounced through the penalty area and to the foot of Sentnor, who did not miss on her second opportunity.
Sentnor’s goal was enough offense for one night.
“I love winning football matches like this, where it’s still on the knife-edge at one-nil,” Hayes said. Even when the United States responded with substitutes, there was no drop in performance. Heaps came on, midfielder Lily Yohannes and a late swap for midfielder Jaedyn Shaw kept the side in stride, but the substitute of the night was far and away forward Emma Sears.
In front of 18,545 fans was a large subset of Sears’ family. From 15 minutes up the highway in Dublin, Ohio, Sears entered the match with the stadium announcer calling her “Columbus’ own,” which sent the raucous crowd into more of a frenzy than they already were for the previous 69 minutes and through the final whistle.
“I think that Columbus is just such a great sports city, and so for them to show up for us like that tonight, we can definitely feel the energy and the atmosphere in the stadium, and I think that that ultimately was like a 12th man on the field for us,” Sears told reporters.
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While Sentnor, Sears and the Thompson sisters played key roles for Hayes, the partnership with Lavelle, Sonnett, Coffey and the veteran backbone acted as the glue. At goalkeeper, Manchester United’s Phallon Tullis-Joyce made her first SheBelieves appearance and first since a matchup against Portugal on Oct. 23, 2025.
There is still one more SheBelieves Cup match, but with the victory, all the United States needs is a single point against Colombia to come away with the host nation’s eighth first-place finish in 11 editions of the exhibition tournament.
Even though it is technically a group of friendlies, the match on the field showed two teams that did not want to lose. Not in the slightest. The old adage of there not being a friendly when rivals meet does not apply to this tournament. From the physical matchup between the USA and Argentina on Sunday to the head-to-head between Canada and the Stars and Stripes on Wednesday, there is no doubt that this tournament means something to these sides.
It looked every bit like teams getting prepared for the rigors of World Cup qualification and the pursuit of the United States’ fifth World Cup title.
Wednesday night showed that the side is finding space, pressing at the right times and finding cohesion under Hayes. More time together will likely lead to more goals, but the matchup between the United States and Canada, intensity against strong defense, never lacked excitement. It was a 1-0 match that did not feel like a 1-0 match.
“I think it’s a good place to be in where you’re winning one-nil,” Hayes said. “How do you manage this part of the game when maybe the second goal don’t come, but you can cough up a corner and all of a sudden it’s a one-one game is going to penalties? So it was, it was, it was on enough of a knife-edge with the right tension.”
Soon after the final whistle, the skies opened back up. The torrential rain soaked everyone as they returned to their homes. The United States and Canada left, both headed to New Jersey for the Sunday finale of SheBelieves. Those two hours of respite before the storms that raged the rest of the night were as if even nature did not want to disrupt what was a night of competitive and entertaining soccer.