Jill Ellis balances youth and experience on the USWNT

The USWNT’s performance against Canada on Sunday showed the promise of the team’s youth and the strength of their veteran core.

If you asked me to name the most promising player on the U.S. women’s national soccer team during the SheBelieves Cup in March, I would have said Rose Lavelle, hands down. While the USWNT underwhelmed in the first tournament of 2017 (1-0-2 against Germany, England and France), the round-robin gave us reasons to be hopeful ahead of the 2019 World Cup, thanks to player’s like Sweet Baby Rose.

Lavelle, a midfielder for the Boston Breakers, earned her first cap against England in the second match of the SheBelieves Cup, and even though the USWNT lost 1-0 to the Lionesses after conceding an 89th-minute goal, Lavelle was all the talk, and with good reason. The Wisconsin native was the heartbeat of the midfield, involved in every play, locked in for the entire 90 and fearless in attack.

Unfortunately for Lavelle, and the rest of us, the rookie had to sit out the USWNT’s most recent set of friendlies against Canada due to a hamstring injury. But while Jill Ellis, and U.S. Soccer in general, has been investing in youth, the two games against Canada showed there’s absolutely no reason to write off the veteran players yet. It’s natural to think of teams as either youthful and daring or aging but experienced. The USWNT, however, seem to have found a perfect medium.

On one end of the spectrum, you have Becky Sauerbrunn, who wears the captain’s armband for the USWNT with 135 caps and who clocked her 1350th minute played with the national team on Sunday. She’s been the anchor of the backline for years and her composure and bite won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. As usual, she ket her defense and midfielders in check on Thursday and Sunday, adjusting expertly to the different personnel around here. Put anyone next to Sauerbrunn and she’ll make sure the team remains organized.

The only player on the roster with more caps than Sauerbrunn is Carli Lloyd, with 245 games played. The two-time FIFA World Player of the Year has had a quiet year both in the NWSL and for the senior team, but she shut her doubters up thanks to a textbook finish on Sunday night to secure the USWNT’s 3-1 victory over Canada. So, yes, Lloyd may only have two national team goals in 2017, but the co-captain needs just two more to become the sixth player in U.S. history to reach a century of goals for the Stars and Stripes. Lloyd will definitely continue to be an off-the-bench option for the USWNT, especially with the competition up top only growing deeper, but also because of the impact she can make coming into the game off the bench. On Sunday, Lloyd entered the game in the 75th minute and found the back of the net in the 80th minute.

Alex Morgan has been an absolute force for the USWNT. The forward has scored seven goals in seven games in 2017 for the national team … slow clap? The Orlando Pride forward re-joined the NWSL after an overseas stint with Olympique Lyonnais. Upon her return to Orlando, she scored nine goals in 14 games, another reason to believe this goalscorer is in full stride. The 28-year-old has always brought pace and an uncanny ability to score goals in difficult spaces, and now she’s making it very difficult for Ellis to give younger players a chance.

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Sauerbrunn, Lloyd and Morgan have been around for a long time and are all crucial to the team’s success, but Ellis has also made room for new faces. Granted, Lavelle and Mallory Pugh weren’t dressed for the Canada friendlies due to injury, but there were still several new-(ish) players that took the field.

Ever since Julie Ertz was moved into midfield, the backline has become a platform for North Carolina Courage defender Abby Dahlkemper. The 2017 NWSL Defender of the Year picked up her 10th start in the back for the senior team over the weekend, but has been playing like she’s been Sauerbrunn’s right-hand since, well, forever. Dahlkemper is strong, organized and really smart when it comes to timing her tackles. The combo of Dahlkemper and Sauerbrunn in the back shows this balancing act of “old” vs. “new” working perfectly.

Also fairly new to the back is North Carolina Courage defender Taylor Smith. What a year it’s been for Smith, who picked up her first senior team call-up in January and played all three games in the Tournament of Nations before being sidelined for the October friendlies due to injury. The outside back is now healthy and picked up her seventh international cap on Sunday. She uses the flank well, offering up support in attack with her pace, but is also reliable in her ability to track back and tuck in with her defensive unit.

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Ellis will have to decide whether she likes Smith in that position or solid, Chicago Red Stars defender Casey Short. Both are good options, with Short stronger at the back and Smith better going forward. Short earned the starting role, her 13th of the year, in Thursday’s friendly against Canada. The 23-year-old has only been in the senior team mix since October, when she made her WNT debut 13 months ago.

So where from here? As 2017 wraps up, there are a lot of contrasting emotions surrounding the USWNT. Some feel Ellis has been too experimental; others that she hasn’t been experimental enough. There has been talk of complacency, but also a counter-argument that there is time. The USWNT may not have had a flawless year, like they’ve had in the past, but they showed that with a healthy mix of new faces and old, some really good soccer is played. Thursday may have been a hiccup in the process, but Sunday showed both how strong the veteran core still is, and how good the newcomers can be.