The U.S. women’s national team proved there’s life without its veteran stars, blasting the Czech Republic, 8-1, in the opening game of the Australia Cup in Melbourne. A young U.S. team featured six players earning their first caps and six scoring their first international goals. The Americans got two goals and an assist from both Jen Mascaro (formerly Streiffer) and Sherrill Kester as the U.S. stars of the future blew the game open with a five-goal second half in the first match of 2000. Not counting veteran defender Thori Bryan, the U.S. starting lineup owned a total of 11 caps and zero international goals at the start of the match. That changed quickly as Mascaro got the USA on the board in the 12th minute. A corner kick from Santa Clara’s Mandy Clemens was poorly cleared by the Czech defense and the ball fell to Kester, who crossed to the far post for Mascaro to hit a spinning volley from eight yards out that stuck in the left corner. It was Clemens who set up the second goal, taking a throw-in from Bryan down the right flank before turning the corner on her defender and finding Susan Bush in the seam for the 19-year old to knock in from four yards. “I was extremely pleased with the commitment of our players, both individually and collectively, not only to getting a result, but to the level of play,” said Lauren Gregg, who coached almost every U.S. player on the U-21 team. The third goal came off a goalkeeper mistake as Nikki Serlenga’s well-hit but savable shot bounced over a flopping Zuzana Pincova from 18 yards out. Kester put the game away by scoring twice in the first 12 minutes of the second half, the first coming when she ran onto a driven cross from Penn State’s Christie Welsh and slid to knock the ball into the right corner. Welsh also created the next goal, weaving through several defenders in the penalty box, only to have her shot blocked. The ball rebounded to Mascaro, who took a crack herself, only to have her shot cleared weakly off the line to Kester, who shot into an open net from close range. “I guess it was kind of a dream debut,” said Kester, who became only the second player in U.S. women’s history to score twice in her first international match. “But I got great service from Christie on the first goal and just framed Jen’s shot on the second.” Mascaro scored her second goal in the 65th minute after 17-year old Nandi Pryce ran onto a corner kick and sent a bullet header back through the penalty box. The ball was deflected into the air for Mascaro to fire a full-volley through goal-mouth traffic into the left side of the net from six yards out. “Our midfield was largely responsible for controlling the tempo the game,” added Gregg. “Jen Mascaro and Aly Wagner delivered some exception final passes and Aleisha Cramer was a ball winner.” The USA’s seventh goal came from the 18-year-old Welsh after Serlenga threaded a pass to her at the top of the penalty box. The nation’s leading scorer as a freshman last season for Penn State wheeled toward goal and fired her left-footed shot low into the left corner from 16 yards away. “The game was a lot of fun,” said the 5-foot-10 Welsh, who came on for Clemens at halftime. “We had some great goals and I feltcomfortable out there. We pretty much had the game won when I came in, but to our team’s credit we kept pounding away.” Seventeen-year-old Veronica Zepeda finished the scoring in the 83rd minute after Aly Wagner beat two defenders on a run into the penalty box and tried the chip the goalkeeper. Pincova made a flying save, but was helpless as Zepeda slammed the rebound into the open net. Defender Michelle French, a three-year captain of the U-21 team, captained the full team for the first time and anchored a defense with Kelly Lindsey that almost entirely shut down the Cezch attack. The USA outshot the Czechs, 26-2, but gave up a late goal to Iveta Dudova. Sweden beat host Australia, 2-0, in the second game.