U.S. Women’s National Team Falls to Japan 1-0 in Second Meeting of Three-Game Series

SEATTLE, WASH. (April 14, 2026) – The U.S. Women’s National Team’s 10-game win streak came to an end on a rainy night in Seattle as it fell 1-0 to Japan in the second of three consecutive matches between the two sides. Midfielder Maika Hamano scored the game-winner in the first half to lift the Nadeshiko to just their third-ever win over the USA. 

The USA had the better of the match in many areas, holding 67% of the possession, breaking Japan’s press well all match and outshooting the Asian champions, 12-9, but a lack of sharpness on final passes and finishing in the final third would be the USA’s downfall.

The match marked the return of the USWNT to Seattle for the first time since 2017 as 36,128 poured into Lumen Field despite horrible weather, setting the record for the largest crowd ever to attend a women’s sporting eventin the city. Former Seattle Reign FC goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce started in her old home stadium and defender Tierna Davidson, who entered the match in the 65th minute, made her first appearance for the U.S. since Feb. 26, 2025, following her recovery from an ACL injury in March of 2025.

For the fourth time in her tenure, U.S. head coach Emma Hayes entirely changed her starting XI from the last match. It was only the ninth time in program history that a coach has swapped out their entire starting lineup in consecutive matches. Tuesday’s starting lineup averaged 23.9 caps heading into the match, less than half the average caps of the previous match on April 11 in San Jose (56.3). Japan also made nine changes to its lineup from the previous meeting.

The USA nearly had back-to-back games with early goals when midfielder Jaedyn Shaw’s shot from the top of the box forced a save from Japanese goalkeeper Akene Okuma in the fifth minute. Shortly after, defender Emily Sams played a long ball to fellow defender Avery Patterson making an overlapping run down the right side. Patterson’s cross inside the box was headed away before falling to forward Emma Sears whose shot was blocked for a corner.

Japan also created multiple chances in the first half before scoring the go-ahead goal in the 27th minute. Hamano won possession in the central third and Japan combined passes up the field before forward Maya Hijikata played it back to Hamano on the right side of the penalty area. She cut inside past U.S. left back Lilly Reale to her left foot and rifled a shot off the fingertips of Tullis-Joyce and into the upper right corner. Hamano also scored the game-winning goal in the AFC Asian Women’s Cup Final against Australia last month.

Second-half substitutions amped up the record crowd as the USWNT came close to finding the equalizer. In the 71st minute, Davidson played a ball over the top to forward Sophia Wilson, but her right-footed shot from about 10 yards out was right at Okuma. Wilson had another opportunity minutes later after Trinity Rodman found her right in front of goal, but her shot was cleared off the line. The rebound fell to Shaw, but her attempt was deflected out for a corner kick.

In the final moments of second-half stoppage time, midfielder Claire Hutton set up Heaps for a flying side-volley that was headed towards the bottom left corner, but Heaps was offside, rendering Okuma’s diving save moot.

The USWNT closes its three-game series against Japan on Friday, April 17 at DICK’S Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo.

Goal Scoring Rundown:

JPN– MAIKA HAMANO (MAYA HIJIKATA), 27th minute: Maika Hamano won possession in the central third and continued her run down the right side as Japan combined passes up the field. Just outside the penalty arc, Maya Hijikata played the ball back to Hamano with space at the edge of the box. Hamano took a touch inside to beat Lilly Reale and sent a left-footed shot just under the crossbar, off the outstretched hand of Phallon Tullis-Joyce into the upper right corner of the net. USA 0, JPN 1

Additional Notes:

• Emma Hayes made a bit more program history by entirely changing her Starting XI from the last match. This is the fourth time in her tenure in which she has done that but only the ninth time overall in program history that a coach has swapped out their entire starting lineup in consecutive matches.
• She first swapped the full Starting XI between the first two matches of the 2025 SheBelieves Cup. After the U.S. won 2-0 over Colombia in the SheBelieves opener on Feb. 20, a completely different Starting XI started the 2-1 win over Australia. Hayes also switched out the entire Starting XI between the two matches against Ireland in June of 2025. The U.S. won both matches, 4-0. Most recently, she changed out the entire Starting XI between the two January Camp matches against Paraguay and Chile. The U.S. won those matches 6-0 and 5-0, respectively.
• This match marked just the ninth occasion in 777 all-time matches that the USWNT’s starting lineup featured 11 changes in consecutive outings and it’s just the fourth time – all under Hayes – that it has occurred during the same event/camp that didn’t include a closed-door friendly.
• Emily Sonnett was the most experienced player on tonight’s starting lineup. She entered the match with 115 caps while the rest of the roster combined for 148 caps. The next-most experienced player to start the match was Jaedyn Shaw who entered the match with 34 caps. Of the players in the starting lineup, only Sonnett has seen on-field minutes in a FIFA Women’s World Cup or an Olympics Games.
• The U.S. returned to Seattle, Wash. for the first time in almost nine years. The last time the U.S. played in Seattle was July 27, 2017, at CenturyLink Field (now Lumen Field) to open the inaugural Tournament of Nations, losing 1-0 to Australia. This time, Lumen Field boasted a crowd that set the record for largest for a standalone women’s soccer match in Seattle. The previous record was 34,130 for Megan Rapinoe’s farewell game. The match had an added twist as it was the first for the USA on grass at Lumen Field, with a new pitch having been laid down in preparation for the 2026 FIFA World Cup matches.
• Claire Hutton (20 years old) was the youngest captain to start a match with the arm band since 2001. The USWNT has only kept captain stats since 1999, but since that time, there were only three instances where a player started a match with the captain’s arm band and was younger than Hutton is now: Cat Whitehill was 19 years old on March 13, 2001 vs. Portugal; Aleisha Cramer was 18 years old on March 15, 2001 vs. Sweden and Cramer was still 18 years old on March 17 vs. Norway.
• Tonight was Tierna Davidson’s first match for the US since Feb. 26, 2025, the final match of the 2025 SheBelieves Cup also vs. Japan. This was her first match in 412 days.
• Tonight’s attendance of 36,128 was the 19th largest overall crowd in USWNT history at home, but it was the eighth largest non-World Cup, non-Olympics, stand-alone crowd. Tonight was also the largest ever women’s sporting event in Seattle.
• The USA is now 33W-3L-8D all-time against Japan.
• The U.S. has never won a match at Lumen Field.

– U.S. WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM MATCH REPORT –

Match: United States vs. Japan
Date: April 14, 2026
Competition: Friendly
Venue: Lumen Field, Seattle, Wash.
Attendance: 36,128
Kickoff: 7 p.m. PT / 10 p.m. ET
Weather: 48 degrees and rainy

Lineups:
USA: 24-Phallon Tullis-Joyce; 3-Avery Patterson, 6-Emily Sams, 14-Emily Sonnett (12-Tierna Davidson, 65), 5-Lilly Reale (22-Gisele Thompson, 65); 15-Claire Hutton (Capt.), 7-Lily Yohannes (10-Lindsey Heaps, 71), 13-Olivia Moultrie (11-Sophia Wilson, 65); 8-Jaedyn Shaw (26-Jameese Joseph, 79), 9-Ally Sentnor, 19-Emma Sears (2-Trinity Rodman, 65)

Substitutes not used: 1-Claudia Dickey, 4-Naomi Girma, 16-Rose Lavelle, 17-Sam Coffey, 20-Michelle Cooper, 23-Emily Fox

Not dressing: 18-Jane Campbell, 21-Alyssa Thompson, 25-Kennedy Wesley

Head Coach: Emma Hayes

JPN: 23-Akane Okuma; 2-Risa Shimizu (14-Yui Hasegawa, 79), 3-Moeka Minami 4-Saki Kumagai, 21-Miyabi Moriya (13-Hikaru Kitagawa, 46); 17-Maika Hamano (15-Aoba Fujino, 59), 18-Honoka Hayashi (19-Momoko Tanikawa, 79), 10-Fuka Nagano (7-Hinata Miyazawa, 68), 22-Remina Chiba (16-Yuzuki Yamamoto, 59); 24-Maya Hijikata (20-Manaka Matsukubo, 46), 11-Mina Tanaka (9-Riko Ueki, 68)

Substitutes not used: 1-Ayaka Yamashita; 6-Toko Koga, 12-Chika Hirao

Head coach: Michihisa Kano 

Stats Summary: USA / JPN
Shots: 12 / 9
Shots on Goal: 5 / 5
Saves: 4 / 5
Corner Kicks: 3 / 2
Fouls: 3 / 13
Offside: 3 / 4

Officials:

Ref: Janeishka Caban (PUR)

AR1: Lourdes Noriega (HON)

AR2: Santa Medina (DOM)

Fourth: Sandra Benitez (SLV)