Record crowd watches U.S. women's soccer team roll at Heinz Field
Between the sun, the team's superb performance and the early end to game-day traffic, fans leaving the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team exhibition had plenty of reasons to feel upbeat Sunday.
The World Cup championship team made the first of 10 stops on its victory tour at Heinz Field for an 8-0 win over Costa Rica before a crowd of more than 44,000, the largest for an American women's “friendly” match.
“It was a great exhibition, and we got to see the community really come out and support the U.S. team,” said Jim Torchia of Marshall, who brought his daughters Brianne, 12, and Regina, 14, to see the game.
“I liked when Meghan Klingenberg, after she scored, took a Terrible Towel and waved it,” Brianne said.
“We thought it would be a great opportunity for our kids, especially our daughter, to see them,” said Chris Davis, 42, of South Fayette, who brought his children Dylan, 8, and Brynn, 4, who will join her first soccer team later in the summer.
Davis said he hoped the excitement would carry over to the Riverhounds, a men's United Soccer League team that drew about 4,200 to a game he and his kids attended Saturday at Highmark Stadium.
Others said they hope enthusiasm for the team leads to more opportunities for women's soccer in the region.
“We get really good showings for high school club teams; it seems like this area would do well with a women's team,” said Katharine Powers, 26, of Cleveland, who traveled to Pittsburgh for the game and begrudgingly conceded Pine-Richland graduate Klingenberg her Terrible Towel moment.
“It's even better than men's (soccer). There's more finesse, and it's not as physical,” Powers said.
Chris Siefert said he met people from Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina who drove or flew to Pittsburgh for the game. His daughter, Elizabeth, 17, was part of the Pittsburgh Dynamo Youth Soccer club and relished getting to see the World Cup champions win a blowout.
“It was great to see all the little girls there and little kids,” said Siefert, 49, of Swissvale. “It was a real coup for Pittsburgh to land this; I hope we can do more with national soccer.”
Traffic into Pittsburgh for the game eased when a couple of closures on the Parkway West wrapped up earlier than expected.
PennDOT lifted an outbound closure on Interstate 376 near Green Tree before 8:30 a.m. and reopened the inbound lanes about an hour later. The inbound lanes had been scheduled to reopen at 11 a.m.
David Conti and Matthew Santoni are staff writers for Trib Total Media. Conti can be reached at 412-388-5802 or dconti@tribweb.com. Santoni can be reached at 412-380-5625 or msantoni@tribweb.com.
