Christen Press Leads US Women's National Team to 2-0 Win vs. Nigeria

The U.S. Women's National Soccer Team christened the brand-new Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas with a 2-0 victory over Nigeria on Wednesday in the final game of the USWNT Summer Series.

The game was played in front of a sold-out crowd of 20,500, according to The Athletic's Meg Linehan. 

Now unbeaten in 42 consecutive games (and 56 straight in the United States), the U.S. maintained its perfect record against Nigeria, improving to 6-0 all-time against the Super Falcons in their first meeting in six years. 

Playing without Rose Lavelle, who suffered an ankle injury in the first half of Sunday's 4-0 victory over Jamaica, the USWNT edged Nigeria thanks to a first-half goal from Christen Press, and then doubled down with a last-minute score from Lynn Williams. 

Press scored in the second minute of added time to lead the U.S. into the break up 1-0, and it was a pretty historic moment for the star: 

But the scoreboard didn't exactly reflect the domination by the Stars and Stripes in the opening half.

For starters, Press found the back of the net on another shot in the middle of the half, but it was called away because it deflected off of an offside Megan Rapinoe. Though it wasn't just Press who was putting on a clinic for the Flying Eagles. 

The U.S. maintained possession for 70 percent of the game and passed with 81 percent accuracy, while Nigeria struggled to get the ball where it wanted it and maintained only 50 percent accuracy in passing. 

Alex Morgan took the pitch in the 53rd minute, replacing Carli Lloyd, who was recognized before the game for earning her 300th cap with the USWNT—a feat she accomplished back in April in Stockholm. 

Wednesday's game was her 304th, and only two other players have more: Kristine Lilly (354) and Christie Pearce Rampone (311). 

Another pair of substitutions came in the 61st minute, when Emily Sonnett and Catarina Macario came in to replace Kristie and Sam Mewis, respectively.

A quiet second half was punctuated when the Press-Rapinoe combination that had been everywhere offensively had a look that would have doubled the lead, but Rapinoe's shot went too high. 

And just when it seemed like the quiet night would end there, Williams forced Tochukwu Oluehi out of the net to meet her, then broke around her to score on a wide-open net and make it 2-0 in the 94th minute.

The only shot on target by Nigeria came from star Asisat Oshoala, who helped lead Barcelona to the UEFA Champions League.

Next up for the U.S. squad is a pair of friendlies against Mexico on July 1 and July 5 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut.