Captain Kristine Lilly scored on a wonderful strike in the 68th minute to give the U.S. women's national team a 1-0 victory against neighbor Canada to win the championship of the 2006 Peace Queen Cup Saturday in Seoul, South Korea.
Lilly took a ball from Aly Wagner in the right side of the penalty area, cut back hard inside with her right foot, losing Canadian defender Randee Hermus, and then slid to drill her left-footed shot from 14 yards into the left side of the net past diving Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod for the 116th goal of her career.
The USA played without leading scorer Abby Wambach, who sprained her ankle Thursday against the Netherlands. It was the first match Wambach has ever missed due to injury in her career, dating back to high school. Wambach should be healed and ready for the 2006 Women's Gold Cup, which begins in less than two weeks.
The USA will return to training in mid-November at The Home Depot Center to prepare for the Gold Cup with matches on Nov. 22 and 26, which will be the final two games of the year for the team. The USA takes a 16-0-4 in 2006 into the tournament, which also serves as qualifying for the Women's World Cup.
PEACE QUEEN CUP MVPS
Golden Ball: Kristine Lilly, USA
Silver Ball: Christine Sinclair, Canada
Bronze Ball: Natasha Kai, USA
PEACE QUEEN CUP LEADING SCORERS
Golden Shoe: Christine Sinclair, Canada
Silver Shoe: Kristine Lilly, USA
Bronze Shoe: Patrizia Panico, Italy
GAME SUMMARY
Nov. 4 in Seoul
USA 1 Canada 0. Goals: Lilly 68.
USA — Solo, Rampone, Markgraf Mitts, 64), Whitehill, Chalupny, Osborne, Lloyd (Miller, 88), Hucles (Wagner, 64), Kai (Frimpong, 83), Tarpley (White, 71), Lilly.
Canada — McLeod, Franko, Chapman (Robinson, 84), Hermus, Morneau, Booth, Walsh Schmidt, 77), Matheson, Neil (Andrews, 77), Wilkinson, Sinclair.
Referee: Jenny Palmqvist (Sweden).
Att.: 16,000.