Abby Wambach netted a first-half double on Sunday as the U.S. women's national team kicked off its send-off series with a comfortable 3-0 victory over the Republic of Ireland at Avaya Stadium.
With less than a month to go before the team departs for Canada to compete in the Women's World Cup, Sunday's clash represented the first of three tune-up matches for Jill Ellis' squad to sharpen their skills.
After routing New Zealand, 4-0, in a friendly last time out on April 4, the U.S. women hoped to get off to another quick start and they were on the front foot from the outset against Ireland.
The Americans controlled play from the outset and created numerous chances in the first half, but were wasteful for the opening 40 minutes of play.
The opening salvo finally came in the 42nd minute when Wambach found herself unmarked in the penalty area to fire home.
Just three minutes later Wambach doubled her tally when she got on the end of a well-placed cross from Carli Lloyd and nodded into the bottom right corner.
10 minutes into the second half the Americans added a third goal. This time defender Julie Johnston made an excellent run to the near post on a corner kick to volley home for the commanding advantage.
The U.S. easily saw out the remaining time to record the victory and will move on to the second game of their send-off series against Mexico next Sunday at the StubHub Center.
[SportsNetwork.com]
