Ally Sentnor strike helps US top Canada, extending dominant defensive record | USA women’s football team
The United States women’s national team notched a seventh straight clean sheet, narrowly beating rival Canada 1-0 in the second match of the SheBelieves Cup. Ally Sentnor scored her seventh international goal early in the second half, taking advantage of a corner to swing the result in the hosts’ favour.
The United States last conceded a goal on October 23 against Portugal, a dominant defensive streak that has now stretched to 714 minutes. Canada is now winless in its last six meetings against the USWNT, although its latest victory was the most important result of all: the 2021 Olympic semifinal.
In a midweek clash and the second of three SheBelieves friendlies for each team, Canada was happy to let the United States dictate the pace of the first half. Emma Hayes’ team maintained a dominant 68% possession share during that period, outshooting Canada 9-2. Their best look of the interval came just before added time, when Sentnor managed to weave around Manchester City defender Jade Rose to collect a loose ball on the edge of the box. However, Canadian goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan quickly went down as Sentnor attempted to finish at the near post, instead finding the side netting.
Sentnor was named a starter after coming off the bench in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Argentina. Her interplay with forwards Alyssa Thompson, Rose Lavelle and Trinity Rodman kept Canada on its heels, although midfielder Sam Coffey admitted on the TNT halftime show that the entire team could have been more patient with her shot selection.
Canada was a little more opportunistic in the second half, targeting 20-year-old left back Gisele Thompson with incisive counter-attacking sequences led by Nichelle Prince. One such sequence, in the 49th minute, saw Prince find Cloé Lacasse in the heart of the box, only to see the Utah Royals forward forced back again as the U.S. defense blocked her shooting lanes.
The breakthrough finally came in the 55th minute, as Lavelle curled in a low corner from the left. The ball skipped through the first few lines of players and found Sentnor with space, having only just found an extra yard after Lacasse had left the box hoping to provide an outlet for a counter. Sentnor took the sting off the ball and settled it after its momentum briefly carried it skyward, eventually placing a shot at the far post beyond Sheridan.
Although Sheridan has alternated starts over the past year with Aston Villa’s Sabrina D’Angelo, the concession means that regardless of goalkeeper, Canada has not kept a clean sheet since April 4, 2025. That makes eleven straight matches without stopping an opponent from scoring, with Canada having lost seven of those matches.
The remainder of the match played out with both teams occasionally finding shooting lanes, but mostly keeping each other contained. Rodman came off in the 69th minute, a prolonged and encouraging change after leaving the match against Argentina with an apparent recurrence of the back injury that kept her off the field for much of 2025. Emma Sears checked in for her first USWNT appearance in her hometown of Columbus.
Both teams will play their final matches of the three-match friendly tournament on Saturday. Canada opens in the early afternoon against Argentina (12:30 p.m. ET) before the United States takes on Colombia for a late afternoon matinee (3:30 p.m. ET).
