Cal Sports Report

Alex Morgan Scores the Only Goal in U.S. Win Over Canada in CONCACAF Final

Former Cal star converts penalty kick and is awarded Golden Ball as the event's best player. Will she be on the World Cup team?

Jake Curtis

Two months ago it appeared Alex Morgan's days on the U.S. Women's National team had come to an end. 

But the 33-year-old former Cal star was chosen to play for the Americans in the women's CONCACAF tournament, and on Monday night she showed why.

After Rose Lavelle was taken down by Canada's Allysha Chapman in the penalty area in the 76th minutes, warranting a penalty kick, Morgan was chosen to do the honors.

She calmly pumped in a left-footed shot to the lower right corner for the only goal in the United States' 1-0 victory over Canada in the CONCACAF championship game in Monterrey, Mexico.

Morgan finished the tournament with three goals, including the critical penalty kick, and was awarded the Golden Ball as the best player in the tournament.

Not surprisingly Morgan was voted Woman of the Match for Monday's performance.

The win avenged a 1-0 loss to Canada in the Olympic semifinal last summer, a game in which Morgan played 60 minutes without much impact.  She then played only nine minutes as a substitute in the bronze-medal game, suggesting her time with the national team might be ending.

Morgan had scored the game-winning goal in a 4-3 victory over Canada in the 2012 Olympics, and she did it again 10 years later on Monday night.

Converting this goal was critical, but the fact that Morgan was chosen to take that pressure-packed penalty kick may have been more significant.

Winning the CONCACAF tournament assured the Americans a berth in the 2024 Olympics in France. Reaching the semifinals has clinched them a spot in the 2023 World Cup.

The question now is whether Morgan will be part of the USWNT that will compete in Australian and New Zealand in next year's World Cup. Or whether she might even be part of the American team that competes in the Olympics in two years.

The last few months have been a rebirth for Morgan. She was not invited to the national team camps in October, November, January, February and April 2022. But after dominating the Women's National Soccer League, scoring a league-leading 11 goals, she was called on to be the striker for the Americans in the CONCACAF event. She has been the Americans' best scoring threat ever since.

The Americans dominated play for most of Monday's game.  They finished with 17 shots, six of which were on goal.  Canada had 11 shots, five of which were on goal, although five of its shots came in the final 15 minutes after Morgan had scored her goal.

Morgan nearly scored a goal in the fourth minute of the game, but her shot went just wide.

Morgan also delivered a perfect through ball that set Sophia Smith up for a golden scoring opportunity.

And, of course, there is the post-game celebration:

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Cover photo of Alex Morgan by Erich Schlegel, USA TODAY Sports

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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