Carli Lloyd scored a career-high and program-record-tying five goals to start her farewell tour as the U.S. women’s national team rolled past Paraguay 9-0 in a friendly at Cleveland on Thursday.
Lloyd, 39, will retire later this year after three more U.S. appearances and the completion of her National Women’s Soccer League season with NJ/NY Gotham FC.
She increased her total to 132 goals, moving past Kristen Lilly (130) into third all-time on the U.S. women’s list. Lloyd was making her 313th appearance with the USWNT.
Lloyd is also fourth all-time in international goals, trailing Canada’s Christine Sinclair (187 in 303 games) and Americans Abby Wambach (184/256) and Mia Hamm (158/275).
Lloyd, the FIFA women’s world player of the year in 2015 and ’16 and two-time World Cup champion (2015 and ’19), also broke Hamm’s U.S. record with her ninth game of three or more goals.
Her fifth goal came in the 61st minute. A five-goal contest by a USWNT player was done eight times previously, most recently by Alex Morgan in the 2019 World Cup vs. Thailand.
Lloyd was denied the record in the 78th when Cristina Recalde saved a header.
Andi Sullivan scored her first two goals and had an assist, Lynn Williams scored and had two assists, and Mallory Pugh had three assists. Tobin Heath’s goal in the 86th minute provided the final margin.
The Americans played for the first time since defeating Australia in the bronze-medal match of the Tokyo Olympics on Aug. 5.
Paraguay, ranked 50th in the world, fielded an inexperienced team and played just one match previously this year, a 7-0 loss to Japan in April.
Lloyd opened the scoring with a header off a corner kick in the third minute. She doubled the score in the sixth and scored in the 34th and 38th minutes as part of a 6-0 halftime lead. Lloyd’s first four goals came on 12 touches.
The teams play Tuesday in Cincinnati both the Americans oppose South Korea twice in October.
–Field Level Media