SANDY, Utah — Hope Solo set the U.S. national team record for career shutouts, and Alex Morgan and Abby Wambach each scored twice for an 8-0 exhibition victory over Mexico at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday night.
Sydney Leroux, Heather O’Reilly and Whitney Engen also scored as the U.S, improved to 28-1-1 against Mexico and extended the women’s winning streak to 86 straight games on American soil.
Solo posted her 72nd career shutout, passing Briana Scurry (1994-2008). Solo has played in 154 overall international matches.
It was Wambach’s 41st multigoal match and her 34th career game with two.
The U.S. will host Mexico again on Thursday night in Rochester, New York.
Both teams are training for October’s championship of soccer’s North and Central American and Caribbean region, which serves as qualifying for the Women’s World Cup next year in Canada. The United States and Mexico are in opposite groups for the championships, which will be played in four U.S. cities with the final scheduled for Oct. 26 at PPL Park in Pennsylvania.
The United States went up 1-0 in the 12th minute on Mexico captain Alina Garciamendez’s own goal. Garciamendez was trying to slow the hard-charging Wambach and stumbled, knocking the ball over goalkeeper Cecilia Santiago’s head.
Wambach made it 2-0 in the 23rd minute, and Morgan scored in the 36th minute, dribbling the ball off her chest and over Santiago into the goal. Santiago threw her hands up in frustration following the play.
Wambach added her second goal in the 41st minute off a feed from Morgan.
Morgan’s second goal came in the 56th minute. Less than two minutes later, Engen scored on a header to put the United States up 6-0.
Morgan needs just two more goals to become the 10th player in the team’s history to reach 50.
Morgan made her international debut at Rio Tinto, the home of Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake, back in 2010 — a game that was dubbed the Snow Clasico because it was played in a frigid snowstorm. The United States won that one 1-0 and players made snow angels on the sidelines.
Mexico’s lone victory over the United States came during qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. Mexico won the semifinal 2-1, forcing the U.S. into the third-place match and then a two-game playoff against Italy for a World Cup spot.
The last time the two teams met was in Washington D.C. last September. Leroux had four goals in a 7-0 shutout.
Ranked No. 1 for the past five years, the U.S. has been in Salt Lake this past week for its first extended training camp under coach Jill Ellis, who took over on an interim basis when Tom Sermanni was fired in April and then got the job going forward in May.
Ellis is charged with cutting her roster to 20 players for the CONCACAF championship.
Mexico is ranked No. 25 in the world.
