The U.S. women's national team got two early goals, the first an own goal, and played solid defense throughout to beat Mexico, 2-0, Sunday to win Group B of the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament in Costa Rica.

Abby Wambach scored for the third successive game as the Americans improved to 3-0 with the win before a crowd estimated at 3,000 at Nacional Stadium in San Jose.

The U.S. women, who outscored their first-stage foes, 17-0, will meet the Group A runner-up in the semifinals Wednesday with a berth at the Athens Olympics on the line. Canada and Costa Rica, both with six points, meet today in Heredia to determine the Group A winner. The Canadians, huge favorites, own a superior goal differential and need only a tie to claim a spot in the semifinal against Mexico.

Mexico managed just five shots — to nine for the United States — and put only three on target, the most dangerous a second-half Maribel Dominguez free kick that sailed to goalkeeper Briana Scurry.

The Americans went ahead in the 10th minute after Shannon Boxx headed a Kristine Lilly corner kick across the goal's face. Mexico failed to clear the ball, and miscommunication between defender Maria Castillo and goalkeeper Jennifer Molina led to an own goal, the ball bouncing off Castillo, off Molina's arm and into the net.

Castillo was credited with the own goal.

Wambach struck in the 26th minute after Hamm had been fouled just left of the Mexican box. Lilly sent a cross to the far post, and Wambach's header slipped through at a tight angle.

The U.S. women might have had four in the first half — Lindsay Tarpley's shot skimmed the crossbar in the 22nd minute, and Molina batted away a Wambach header in the 35th — but they weren't credited with a second-half shot.

''The field was so hard, and it was very windy, and we didn't manage to get the ball on the ground enough,'' U.S. captain Julie Foudy said. ''Everything is bouncing up to your chest and neck, and our touch was a little off.

''We played a better first half, for sure, but we're glad that we got another shutout and our defense has been playing well. We go into the semifinals with two days off, and that will help.''

Natalie Des Vignes scored the seventh hat trick of the tournament in Sunday's opener as Trinidad & Tobago routed Caribbean rival Haiti, 6-2.

CONCACAF OLYMPIC QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT
at San Jose and Heredia, Costa Rica

Saturday, Feb. 29 at Nacional Stadium (San Jose)

United States 2 Mexico 0. Goals: own goal Castillo 10, Wambach 26.

United States — Scurry; Rampone (Mitts, 76), Fawcett, Reddick, Markgraf; Boxx; Foudy, Tarpley (MacMillan, 60), Lilly; Wambach (Hucles, 70), Hamm.

Mexico — Molina; Gomez, Sandoval, Gonzalez, Castillo; Vergara, Worbis, Martinez (Saucedo, 54); Dominguez (Lopez, 78), Mora (Hernandez, 81), Perez.

Yellow cards: Mexico — Mora 27.

Referee: Dianne Ferreira-James (Guyana).

Att.: 3,000.

Other score

Trinidad & Tobago 6 (Des Vignes 3, 38, 65, Attin-Johnson 8; Elder 27; L.A. James 82) Haiti 2 (Hilaire 32, Deca 89)

GROUP A
W L T GF GA Pts
Canada 2 0 0 12 0 6
Costa Rica 2 0 0 7 1 6
Jamaica 0 2 0 0 7 0
Panama 0 2 0 1 12 0

Results

Feb. 26 at Heredia
Canada 6 (Latham 33, Hooper pen. 39, Sinclair 46, 61, 92+, Moscato 82) Jamaica 0
Costa Rica 6 (Campos 2, Trujillo 25, Chavez 26, 45, Rodriguez 54, Cruz 69) Panama 1 (Bedoya 27).

Feb. 28 at San Jose
Canada 6 (Latham 13, Jamani 22, 51, 67, 75, Neil 25) Panama 0
Costa Rica 1 (Chavez 38) Jamaica 0

Schedule

March 1 (Heredia): Jamaica vs. Panama, Costa Rica vs. Canada.

GROUP B
W L T GF GA Pts
United States 3 0 0 17 0 9
Mexico 2 1 0 13 3 6
Trin. & Tobago 1 2 0 7 17 3
Haiti 0 3 0 2 19 0

Results

Feb. 25 at San Jose
United States 7 (Boxx 22, 37, 81, Lilly 25, Hamm 41, 44, Wambach 42) Trinidad & Tobago 0
Mexico 5 (Perez 7, 55, 63, Dominguez 80, Mora 84) Haiti 0

Feb. 27 at Heredia
United States 8 (Wagner 12, Parlow 17, 73, 87, own goal Fenelon 41, MacMillan 47, Tarpley 63, Wambach 81) Haiti 0
Mexico 8 (Lopez 20, Perez 25, 55, Mora 37, Dominguez 38, 59, 73, Martinez 80) Trinidad & Tobago 1 (St. Louis pen. 42)

Feb. 29 at San Jose
United States 2 (own goal Castillo 10, Wambach 26) Mexico 0
Trinidad & Tobago 6 (Des Vignes 3, 38, 65, Attin-Johnson 8; Elder 27; L.A. James 82) Haiti 2 (Hilaire 32, Deca 89)

SEMIFINALS
March 3 at San Jose
United States vs. Canada or Costa Rica
Mexico vs. Canada or Costa Rica

FINAL/THIRD-PLACE GAME
March 5 at Heredia
Semifinal winners

Note: Semifinal winners advance to Athens Olympics

LEADING SCORERS
Paty Perez, Mexico 5
Maribel Dominguez, Mexico 4
Aysha Jamani, Canada 4
Shannon Boxx, USA 3
Megan Chavez, Costa Rica 3
Natalie Des Vignes, T&T 3
Cindy Parlow, USA 3
Christine Sinclair, Canada 3
Abby Wambach, USA 3
Mia Hamm, USA 2
Christine Latham, Canada 2
Iris Mora, Mexico 2

U.S. RECORD VS. QUALIFYING COMPETITION
Record GF-GA
Canada 27-3-3 117-25
Costa Rica 3-0-0 20-0
Haiti 2-0-0 18-0
Jamaica 1-0-0 10-0
Mexico 11-0-0 64-3
Panama 1-0-0 9-0
Trin. & Tobago 7-0-0 54-2
Totals 41-3-3 277-30