Catarina Macario scores again as USWNT shuts out Italy twice to end the year

The U.S. women’s national team closed out 2025 with a final win, defeating Italy 2-0 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. thanks to goals from Catarina Macario and Jaedyn Shaw. The victory brings the U.S. to an 11-3-0 record, with Macario the team’s leading scorer with eight goals.

On Monday night, with Italy overwhelmed in the midfield, Lily Yohannes sprang Macario with a long ball in the 20th minute. Macario finished it off with a lob over Italian goalkeeper Francesca Durante, a few steps into the 18-yard box.

It was her third goal against Italy in two matches, after scoring a brace against them on Friday night.

Shaw added the second in the 41st minute after a solid passing sequence out of the back. Forward Alyssa Thompson provided the cross-field assist, before Shaw put the ball on her right foot and into the top corner past Durante.

Despite finishing the match with 16 shots, seven of which were on target, the USWNT had to settle for the two first half goals as the only ones of the night.

While the standard is always for the USWNT to win, the team and Hayes have been without some of the usual pressures of meaningful games this calendar year. This allowed Hayes to fully explore the player pool, as well as begin to determine the successor to the previous No. 1 goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, who retired at the end of 2024. At the end of the year, Hayes has two solid options between Seattle Reign’s Claudia Dickey and Manchester United’s Phallon Tullis-Joyce (who missed the final matches of the year after suffering a fractured eye socket last month).

Hayes also gave senior debuts to 27 players in 2025. While some questions remain unanswered ahead of next November’s World Cup qualifiers and the 2027 World Cup, Hayes was able to maximize what 2025 offered without faltering too much. The U.S. lost to Japan, Brazil and Portugal over the course of the year.

Injuries and pregnancies have played a role in allowing Hayes to play younger and untested players, as has the increased number of training camps and matches for the under-23s program. The entirety of the forward line for the 2024 Olympics was unavailable to Hayes this year. Other key players were also missing, like Rose Lavelle, who missed the first half of the year recovering from ankle surgery, and Naomi Girma, who battled through multiple calf injuries.

One player who was able to step up in 2025 is Macario, who has bounced back from a nearly two-year recovery from a torn ACL, then missing the 2024 Olympics because of a knee issue. While Hayes acknowledged she prefers to play as an attacking midfielder, Macario has proven herself as the leading option for the USWNT’s No. 9 this year.

Youth has been a key theme of the year, with multiple teenagers featuring for the squad. Claire Hutton, the 19-year-old midfielder who also plays for the Kansas City Current, told the TNT broadcast after the match that the team strives for great performances every game.“We want to put more goals up,” she said. “Two — is it enough for us? But if we can end in a shutout and with a win, it just puts us on the front foot going into January.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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