By OkayGoal
CHESTER, Pa. — It was a tale of two halves for the U.S. Women’s National Team in its final match of the October window.
Second-half goals from Ashley Sanchez and Mallory Swanson helped Emma Hayes’ squad rally to tie No. 1-ranked Spain 2-2 at Subaru Park. It was a bounce-back result for the Americans, who suffered a 2-0 loss to the reigning Women’s World Cup winners just three days prior.
“Great fight, great determination from the group being 2-0 down to come back and get something from the game,” Hayes said postmatch in her press conference about the result.
Hayes made four changes to her starting lineup from the Saturday defeat, bringing in goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce, fullback Gisele Thompson, midfielder Claire Hutton and the aforementioned Sanchez.
Tullis-Joyce was tested early by Spain’s Clara Pinedo in the 14th minute, punching away the Athletic Bilbao winger’s angled shot.
Despite increased possession for the USWNT, Spain found a breakthrough goal in the 27th minute through its longtime midfielder Alexia Putellas. Clara Serrajordi was left open on the right wing and delivered a low cross that Pinedo let run to Putellas for a one-time finish.
It marked Putellas’ 42nd-career international goal in her 150th cap.
Five minutes after breaking the deadlock, Putellas became distributor for Spain’s second goal of the first half. A poor clearance from Tullis-Joyce fell to Putellas, who raced upfield and fed winger Salma Paralluelo for a bar-down finish.
Four minutes into the second half, the USWNT trimmed their deficit thanks to a sublime finish from Sanchez. The 27-year-old eventually cut into the box from the left wing before curling a right-footed shot into the bottom right corner.
It was Sanchez’s fourth international goal and first since 2022.
Hayes made eight substitutions as the second half went on and two of those players would connect for the USWNT’s equalizer.
Michelle Cooper raced onto an upfield ball and spun around in possession to find Swanson with some space inside of the Spain box. Swanson took one touch before drilling a half-volley into the bottom left corner for her 39th international goal.
It was Swanson’s first goal since scoring in the 2024 Olympic Gold Medal match.
Lily Yohannes came close to winning the match for the USWNT in stoppage time but Spain goalkeeper Misa made a heroic save, diving to her left and punching away Yohannes’ deflected effort.
The top-two ranked teams would finish even on the night as the USWNT avoided a fourth defeat of 2026.
“They are World Class, I didn’t learn anything about them [Spain], that I didn’t already know,” Hayes said. “We’re still in progress. They [Spain] are deserved world champions and our job is to hunt that. You see the importance of the squad depth. Our strength is the size of our pack.”
The USWNT will return to action this November at the CONCACAF W Championship, facing off with El Salvador in the quarterfinal round.