Lineup Notes: USA Looks for China PR Sweep in Cleveland

USA vs. China PR 
Date: June 12, 2018 
Venue: FirstEnergy Stadium; Cleveland, Ohio 
Broadcast: ESPN2; UDN 
Kickoff: 7 p.m. ET

Today’s Starting XI vs. China PR: 24-Ashlyn Harris, 14-Sofia Huerta, 4-Becky Sauerbrunn, 12-Tierna Davidson, 19-Crystal Dunn; 2-Julie Ertz, 3-Samantha Mewis, 6-Morgan Brian; 23-Christen Press, 13-Alex Morgan (capt.), 15-Megan Rapinoe
Subs: 1-Alyssa Naeher, 8-Amy Rodriguez, 9-Lindsey Horan, 10-Carli Lloyd, 16-Rose Lavelle, 17-Tobin Heath, 20-Allie Long, 25-McCall Zerboni, 27-Merritt Mathias

Team

• U.S. WNT head coach Jill Ellis has made five changes to tonight’s Starting XI from the group that took the field against China PR on Thursday. Christen Press, Samantha Mewis, Morgan Brian, Sofia Huerta and Ashlyn Harris all get starting nods.
• Tierna Davidson, Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe are the only three players on the U.S. roster to start every game so far in 2018.
• The USA is 6-0-1 so far in 2018, with wins over Denmark, Germany, England, Mexico (twice), China PR (in the first meeting of this two-game series on Thursday), along with a tie against France.
• The USA is unbeaten in its last 15 matches (13-0-2). The USA has outscored its opponents 47-12 over those 15 matches, and have scored in all 15 games.
• Defender Merritt Mathias, who will start on the bench, will have an opportunity to earn a first cap tonight.
• Not dressing tonight are Casey Murphy (GK), Abby Dahlkemper (D), Abby Smith (GK) and Savannah McCaskill (F).

Starting Lineup

• Ashlyn Harris will earn her 16th cap tonight and make her first start of 2018. She most recently played when she came off the bench against Mexico on April 8 in which she logged 23 scoreless minutes. She has three career shutouts.
• Becky Sauerbrunn makes her third consecutive start in 2018 after starting against Mexico on April 8 and China on June 7. Sauerbrunn was sidelined for the WNT’s January Camp and SheBelieves Cup due to a foot injury, but is back to full health.
• Sofia Huerta will earn her seventh cap and make her second career start for the U.S. WNT tonight. After playing in the final minutes of the game against her former National Team, Mexico, on April 8, she became the first player to play for Mexico against the USA and for the USA against Mexico.
• Crystal Dunn will earn her 64th cap tonight and makes her fifth consecutive start in 2018. Before her start on March 7 against England, Dunn hadn’t started since July 30, 2017 against Brazil at the Tournament of Nations. She will once again start tonight’s game as an outside back, a position she played during the 2012 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, and at the beginning of her senior WNT career.
• Tierna Davidson is making her eighth consecutive start in as many international appearances. On Jan. 21 in San Diego, she became the 21st woman to make a WNT debut under Jill Ellis. She earned her first career assist on that game. The 19-year-old Davidson helped lead Stanford to the NCAA Championship this past season. She is the third teenager since 2013 to earn a first cap for the U.S. WNT. Mallory Pugh (17 in 2016) and Lindsey Horan (19 in 2013) are the most recent teenagers to debut for the WNT.
• Julie Ertz will earn her 61st cap tonight and has 15 international goals. The 2017 U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year got 2018 off to a great start, scoring the game-winner on Jan. 21 vs. Denmark, before the knee injury set her back a bit and caused her to miss a few games.
• Samantha Mewis returns to the U.S. roster for this camp for the first time since suffering a knee injury against Canada in the final game of 2017. Mewis played in every game in 2017 and was second on the team in minutes played behind Becky Sauerbrunn. She played the entire second half on June 7 against China, her first minutes of 2018. She will earn her 36th cap tonight.
• Morgan Brian was hampered by injuries last year and played in just six games, starting two. She made her return to the field in 2018 against Germany on March 1, coming on for Carli Lloyd in the 65th minute to see her first action for the National Team since Sept. 15, 2017, when she came off the bench to play the final 16 minutes against New Zealand. On March 4, she got her first start and went the full 90 minutes. This will be her sixth appearance of 2018 and her fourth start. She will earn her 75th cap tonight and will become the 42nd female player in U.S. history to play 75 or more times. She is still just 25-years-old
• Christen Press will earn cap 100 tonight, becoming the 37th woman in U.S. WNT history to reach the century mark. She has 44 career goals, most recently scoring on a brilliant strike from distance against Korea Republic on Oct. 22 of last year. She is in 14th place on the all-time WNT goals list and with one more goal will tie Julie Foudy for 13th place. She averages just under a goal every two games (0.45 goals per game) and 0.82 goals per every 90 minutes she’s been on the field.
• Alex Morgan comes into the match with 86 goals and will earn her 142nd cap tonight. At age 28, she sits in sole possession of seventh place on the USA's all-time goal scoring list. She’s scored 13 goals over her last 14 WNT matches, with her most recent one being the lone goal of the match against China PR on June 7. She leads the WNT with six goals in 2018.
• Megan Rapinoe makes her 137th international appearance today. She has 36 career goals after scoring against Mexico on April 8. She has moved ahead of April Heinrichs and Sydney Leroux into sole possession of 15th on the all-time goals list. She leads the USA with six assists on the year and now has 50 for her career, tied with Carli Lloyd and Shannon MacMillan for seventh in U.S. history.
• Rapinoe had a monster game on April 8 vs. Mexico, getting four assists and a goal while also setting up the other goal in the match. Rapinoe’s 50 assists in 136 caps is the best assist to games ratio of anyone ahead of her on the all-time list except for Mia Hamm, who had a remarkable 145 assists in her 276 caps.