Swanson leads the way: 3 takeaways from the USWNT’s triumph over Canada
2. Mallory Swanson is in a completely different stratosphere right now
If Andonovski was going to lock in one player for his starting XI in July, Mallory Swanson would be the first one on the list. Words cannot describe how dialed in Swanson is in the goal-scoring department. Since the turn of the new year, the Red Stars’ superstar has scored five goals in just three matches, netting two goals in two of those contests. Opponents cannot give Swanson an inch. One mistake, and it is too late. Lyon center-back, Vanessa Gilles learned the hard way on Thursday night in Orlando.
Her goals are not simply tap-ins, Swanson has pieced together a highlight reel of goals in 2023 already. From her rocket that found a way past arguably the NWSL’s best goalkeeper, Kailen Sheridan, to her running header to open the scoring in the first match in New Zealand, Swanson is making a statement as one of the world’s most lethal goal threats.
With a pair of goals tonight, @MalPugh is YOUR @budlight Woman of the Match 🍻 pic.twitter.com/XQvtf5u4Hd
— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) February 17, 2023
When teams are preparing for the United States this summer, the No. 1 priority on the game plan has to be slowing down Swanson. Her speed, elusiveness, and creativity as an attacking player make her a world-class player. The United States may have just found its next great goal-scorer. The Colorado native is just 24 years old and already has 29 international goals. With Sophia Smith absent, all eyes are on Swanson. It may have been the way she concluded 2022 with the game-clinching goal against Germany, but whatever it is, Swanson continues to do what she does best with a new name on the back of her shirt.