Colorado’s own Mallory Pugh became the youngest player in U.S. history (18 years, 102 days) to score a goal in the Olympics, dribbling through traffic and giving the United States a 2-1 advantage in the 59th minute of their 2-2 draw against Colombia to conclude group play.
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With the draw, the United States took the top seed in Group G heading into the quarterfinal knockout round.
It’s been a meteoric rise to success with the USWNT for Pugh, who made her national team debut in January. Pugh scored a goal in that friendly versus Ireland. She added two more in friendlies leading up to the 2016 Rio Olympics. She made her Olympic debut on August 3 against New Zealand, but did not register on the scoring sheet.
Her fourth international goal was no doubt the most meaningful, as it not only came in an international tournament, but it put her in the record books. Already the youngest American ever to play in the Olympic qualifying tournament, now she’s the youngest to score a goal in the Olympic games.
The USWNT now heads to the quarterfinals where the team could face Australia, Sweden or China based on the Group E result between the latter two. The USA’s quarterfinal will be played on Aug. 12 (10 a.m. MT).