Lavelle scored the winning goal and the U.S. women’s national team won its 13th straight match with a 2-1 victory over Nigeria on Tuesday night at Audi Field in Washington, D.C.
It was a much more tougher encounter than the one played on Saturday where it was a walk in the park for the USWNT.
It was the second loss for the nine-time African Champions in three days to the USWNT who have now extended their unbeaten streak on American soil to 71 games.
Tosin Demeyin’s own goal put the United States ahead in the 24th minutes but the Falcons were able to hold their ground not to concede more going into the break unlike the first encounter where they chunked in 3 before halftime.
With 5 minutes played in the second half, Uchenna Kanu pulled Super Falcons level off Glory Ogbonna’s assist.
That will be the first time Nigeria will score against the USWNT in 22 years, the last time being during a 3-1 loss to them at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Sydney 2000 Olympics.
Lavelle who during the cause of the game repeatedly found space to exploit down the right side of Nigeria’s relatively inexperienced back line got rewarded for her hard work in the 66th minute when she scored a spectacular game-winner.
Both teams have qualified for next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia but there is a lot of positives to draw from the game for the Super Falcons who improved well from the first leg of the doubleheader which ended 4-0 on Saturday.