U.S. women down New Zealand, advance to quarterfinals

The U.S. women's soccer team tallied a 4-0 victory over New Zealand Tuesday evening in Shenyang, closing out Group G play and advancing the Americans to the quarterfinal round of the 2008 Olympic Games tournament. The result gives the U.S. six points in Group G and a tie with Norway at the top of the table. Thanks to Japan's 5-1 victory over Norway, the U.S. gains the advantage in the tiebreaker based on goal differential.

The Americans applied pressure from the first whistle as Heather O'Reilly (East Brunswick, N.J.) tallied the first U.S. goal a mere 40 seconds into the match. Amy Rodriguez (Lake Forest, Calif.) added a second goal in the 43rd minute to give the USA a 2-0 halftime lead. Lindsay Tarpley (Kalamazoo, Mich.) made it 3-0 in the 56th minute, and Angela Hucles rounded out the scoring with a goal four minutes later.

The next U.S. match will be at Shanghai Stadium on Friday, August 15, at 6 p.m.