US women edge Japan for soccer gold medal
WEMBLEY, England — In the closing minutes of the Olympic final, goalie Hope Solo flung her body toward the ball and managed to push it away. The lead stayed intact. The Americans would win the gold medal and redemption from a year-old World Cup heartache.
The U.S. women’s soccer team puts up with a lot from Solo. The candid comments. The Twitter tangents. The pause she put on her training to appear on “Dancing With the Stars.”
But when the game is on the line, she’s still hands-down — not to mention hands-up and hands-to-the-side — the best goalkeeper in the world.
“You can’t go without saying that Hope saved the day,” U.S. forward Abby Wambach. “Literally. Five times.”
The Americans became champions for the third consecutive Olympics, beating Japan 2-1 Thursday in a rematch of last year’s World Cup final. Carli Lloyd scored early in both halves, and the entire roster found the salve it had been seeking since that penalty kick shootout loss in Germany 13 months ago.
“They snatched our dream last summer,” U.S. midfielder Megan Rapinoe said. “And this kind of feels like the nightmare turned back around.”
Turned back around with every shot turned back by Solo, who leaped high with her left hand to knock one off the crossbar early in the game and then made the save of the Olympics in the 83rd minute, when Mana Iwabuchi stripped the ball from captain Christie Rampone and swooped in toward the net — only to be thwarted when the goalie lunged left to deflect the ball out of harm’s way.
“I knew I had to make the save,” Solo said. “That was pretty much my only thought. I had to make that save.”
Solo now owns two Olympic gold medals as well as the golden glove award as the top goalie at last year’s World Cup.
At the final whistle, there was a group-hug celebration that unleashed a year of bottled-up frustration.
