Game Analysis: USA v Ireland (June 7, 2025)

(Photo: Amaan Rashid, amaansportpics on Instagram)

The United Eagles took on Ireland in two official matches this past weekend. This was originally intended to cover both matches, but we were already at 6 pages at halftime, so I decided not to make you suffer through 20+ pages.

Before we get into our breakdown, we have 3 main takeaways from this weekend.

If you make it accessible, people will watch.

Saturday’s match had some 300 people in attendance. Saturday’s livestream has 5.2K views and Sunday’s has 4K. While the stream quality on Sunday was less than ideal (presumably due to the storms in the area), this was a big step towards making the sport more accessible for viewers. I would also like to shout out the commentary crew, Suzanne Bush, and Bryn Underwood for doing a great job! Hopefully, we will hear a lot more of Bryn during the college season, and you can listen to Suzanne typically on the ACC Network.

Our APCs need some work.

Our attacking penalty corners have always been a bit of a weak point for this team, and this weekend was no different. I am enjoying seeing the team switch up their routines and not just doing a straight flick to the left post, however, the hit back to insert has already become too scoutable, as noted from the broadcasters.

The Youth on this team is going to give us a great future beyond 2028.

Lots of people want to talk about the players who were missing from these matches, but this squad managed to beat Ireland for the first time since 2017. Reese D’Ariano is extremely composed for just 16 years old, and if it was not mentioned throughout the match, one might assume she is already one of the college-aged players. Ryleigh Heck now has 2 international caps and scored in both of her appearances. Claire Danahy has transitioned easily into the backline of the squad and looked confident, despite it being her first caps. Lastly, although she is not part of the “youth”, per se, we enjoyed seeing Meredith Sholder stepping into the role of captain for this squad. Her performance on the field was great, as always, but knowing her as a person, she is meant to wear the captain's band.