WASHINGTON — The U.S. women’s soccer team has a long history of playing two-game home series against opponents and being tested more in the second game than the first. That was the case again Tuesday, as the Americans had to fight for a 2-1 win over Nigeria at Audi Field after beating the Super Falcons, 4-0, in Saturday’s opener.
The starting lineup largely was unchanged from the first contest, in the particular the front line of Mallory Pugh, Alex Morgan, and Sophia Smith. Manager Vlatko Andonovski has made it clear that trio is his top group for as long as Catarina Macario is out with a torn ACL, so they are getting as many minutes as makes sense.
But there were three changes farther back. In the midfield, Sam Coffey made her national team debut, starting at the holding spot for Andi Sullivan and becoming the 250th U.S. women’s player to take the field in program history. On the back line, Naomi Girma came in for Becky Sauerbrunn, and in goal Casey Murphy started instead of Alyssa Naeher.
