Substitution patterns introduced a few questions. Sophia Smith left the match in the 43rd minute and was replaced by Lynn Williams, which makes you wonder if that was planned or not. We all know rotation is the watchword but it’s a somewhat unusual substitution time, so perhaps Smith indicated she had some kind of issue and given the scoreline and bench depth, they felt they could afford to pull her early.

A more expected, but very intriguing, change came in the 65th minute with Rodman, Swanson, and Horan out for Casey Krueger, Nighswonger, and Emily Sonnett. Again, a 3-0 scoreline against a team playing with 10 players gives you more breathing room than normal, but seeing Nighswonger move into the midfield was a real “Oh, so it’s like that?” moment from Hayes. Until now, if you saw Krueger and Nighswonger coming in you’d assume it was fullback rotation and Dunn would be getting shuttled higher up the field. Instead, we got Nighswonger slotted into Horan’s role above Coffey, looking to work the left side of the field with Krueger.

We didn’t get an inkling of that intention during the previous four friendlies but Hayes has always been cagey with her tactics, often refusing to answer tactical questions from the media. This feels like something she was keeping in her pocket for just such an occasion as a limited roster.

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