Swanson’s double lifts US at Olympics

NICE, France (AP):

Mallory Swanson scored a pair of goals just moments apart in the first half, and the United States opened the Olympics with a 3-0 victory over Zambia on Thursday night, giving new coach Emma Hayes a win in her first major tournament with the team.

Trinity Rodman also scored for the United States, who are looking to add a record fifth gold medal to their Olympic collection.

Zambia were hurt in the 33rd minute when Pauline Zulu was sent off, and the team was limited to 10 players the rest of the way.

Hayes took over the US team in late May after finishing out the season with Chelsea in the Women’s Super League. She shook things up a bit with her roster, leaving star forward Alex Morgan, a veteran of three Olympics, at home.

Hayes is charged with leading the Americans as they seek to distance themselves from the disappointment of last summer’s Women’s World Cup, when they crashed out in the round of 16.

“If you had asked me at the beginning of the game, ‘Would you be happy with a 3-0 win?’ I probably would have said no,” Hayes said. “However, after the performance and the chances created and finding the back of the net we did, I don’t want to be too hard on the girls.”

Rodman, making her Olympic debut, scored in the 17th minute. US captain Lindsey Horan passed to Rodman, who deftly shot around onrushing Zambian goalkeeper Ngambo Musole.

Swanson scored twice within 70 seconds in the 24th and 25th minutes to give the Americans a 3-0 lead in the Group B match in Nice.

Swanson called it just a start.

“I think there were little things within that game, within the play, that we need to fine-tune, that we can just keep on growing with,” Swanson said. “So I think there’s definitely those little things, and we’ll address them and fix them and keep moving forward.”

The United States will next face Germany on Sunday in Marseille.

Other results: Canada 2 New Zealand 1; Spain 2 Japan 1; Germany 3 Australia 0; Brazil 1 Nigeria 0; France 3 Colombia 2.