US women score in 2nd half, beat Sweden 1-0 in friendly

Rose Lavelle scored in the second half, lifting the U.S. women to a 1-0 victory over Sweden in a friendly on Thursday night.

A perfectly timed run from the midfield by Crystal Dunn led to a through-ball for Lavelle inside the 18-yard box. Lavelle, 22, calmly put it home in the 56th minute for her second international goal in her fifth international appearance.

''I pulled out wide, Crystal popped in that pocket, and Crystal was running out the backline and laid an awesome ball to me and I hit it with my right foot,'' Lavelle said of the goal. ''When I got the ball, I was debating should I play it across the face of the goal or should I shoot it. I decided to be a little selfish.

''It was a good choice this time.''

Earlier, Dunn had a semi-breakaway, but her shot was saved by Hilda Carlen.

In the match at Goteborg, Sweden, Alyssa Naeher got the shutout, with lots of help from Allie Long. Sweden had a dangerous chance in the 44th minute when Caroline Seger got free in the box. Her shot from the left side of the penalty area looked to be going wide before it was blocked by Long. The ball bounced over sliding goalkeeper Naeher, but Long recovered to sweep the ball off goal line.

''It feels good coming in, getting a game against a good opponent,'' Naeher said. ''I am happy with it.''

The United States is 21-6-11 against Sweden, including 3-0-0 in Sweden.

''To travel this far and get a result, sometimes those games you dominate and some you don't,'' coach Jill Ellis said. ''And sometimes you just have to find a way to win, and I think we did that tonight.

''A lot of great lessons.''

The women will play Norway on Sunday to finish their two-game trip.