Olympics Recap: Quinn, Lavelle and Rapinoe Move on to Olympic Semifinals

Following intense battles in the quarterfinals of the 2020 Olympics, three OL Reign players and their national teams are moving on to the semifinals on Monday morning. Quinn and Canada will be facing off with Rose Lavelle and Megan Rapinoe on the United States side to compete for a medal in the 2020 Olympics. This match up means that at least one OL Reign player is guaranteed to play in the final match. 

Netherlands vs. United States 

The United States and Netherlands match was an intense battle that featured four goals in regulation and a deadlocked period of extra time that forced penalty kicks to decide the game. Rose Lavelle subbed on for the United States in the 58th minute and Megan Rapinoe followed not long after in the 64th minute.  

The first goal came for the Netherlands in the 18th minute, when Vivianne Miedema nailed her shot to the bottom left corner of the goal. The Dutch did not hold onto the lead for long though. Just ten minutes later, Lynn Williams played a cross into Sam Mewis, who headed the ball into the back of the net to equalize. With the momentum of the game in their favor, the United States added another goal only two minutes after, when Williams scored a goal of her own. The United States went into half time with the 2-1 lead. 

In the 54th minute of the match, the Netherlands found an equalizer on another powerful strike from Miedema. The Netherlands were awarded a penalty kick in the 80th minute, but U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher came up huge, saving the shot from Lieke Martens. The rest of the match went scoreless, and the two teams headed to extra time. 

In extra time, both teams had a goal called back for offsides. The final touch was missing in the offensive third for both teams and neither side could find the back of the net. After two 15-minute halves, the game went to penalty kicks. 

The Netherlands stepped up to the spot first and U. S. goalkeeper Naeher came up big once again, saving the first penalty kick. Following that kick, Rose Lavelle, Alex Morgan and Christen Press converted their penalty kicks for the United States and Janssen and Van Der Gragt converted their kicks for the Netherlands. On the Netherlands fourth penalty kick, Naeher made yet another save, putting the United States in the position to win the game if they scored the next PK. 

Rapinoe stepped up to take the kick, perfectly placing the ball in the upper right corner to send the United States through the semifinals, where they will take on Canada. 

Canada vs. Brazil 

Quinn earned a start in Canada’s quarterfinal match against Brazil and played the first 63 minutes before Julia Grosso subbed on to replace them. The two teams were evenly matched throughout the entire game, possession split 46% for Canada and 54% Brazil. 

Through the first 45 minutes, both teams had many chances on goal and neither team was clearly dominant. The teams were deadlocked 0-0 all the way through to halftime. 

Angelina came on in the 73rd minute for Brazil veteran Formiga. She had good shot in the 88th minute from outside the box but missed just to the left of the goal. The score remained 0-0 through all of regulation. The game went into two 15-minute periods of extra time. 

Despite continual efforts from Canada and Brazil, neither team found the back of the net in extra time and the game was forced to go to a penalty kick shootout. For Canada, Jessie Flemming, Ashley Lawrence, Adriana Leon and Vanessa Gilles all converted their kicks. For Brazil, Marta, Debinha and Erika converted their penalty kicks, sending Canada through to the semifinals 4-3 on penalty kicks. 

Canada will take the United States in the semifinals. 

Sweden vs. Japan 

Sweden will be moving on to the semifinals after defeating the host team. OL Reign forward Nicole Momiki was available as a substitute for Japan in their 3-1 loss to Sweden but did not make an appearance. 

Sweden opened the scoring of the match in the 7th minute of the match on a Magdalena Eriksson header assisted by a Fridolina Rolfö following a corner kick. Sweden began to take control of the match after that early goal, consistently forcing the Japan side to work hard on defense. 

Japan found a sliver of hope in the 23rd minute of the match, when Yui Hasegawa crossed a ball into the box and Mina Tanaka was there to finish. Both sides had chances before the end of the half, but neither was able to convert and went into half time level. 

In the second half, Sweden scored early again, retaking the lead in the 53rd minute. Fridolina Rolfö earned her second assist on the Stina Blackstenius goal. In the 65th minute, Japan was whistled for a handball in their own box, so Sweden was awarded a penalty kick. The decision was confirmed by video review before Kosovare Asllani stepped up to the spot and made it 3-1 with her right footed shot to the bottom right corner of the goal. 

Japan was unable to find the goal needed to surmount a comeback against Sweden and were ultimately eliminated from the tournament. Sweden will be moving on to the semifinals where they will take on Australia. 

Up Next 

Semifinals – Monday, August 2 

1:00 a.m. PT – USA (Lavelle, Rapinoe) vs. Canada (Quinn) 

4:00 a.m. PT – Australia vs. Sweden