SheBelieves Cup recap: United States 1, Germany 0

The United States Women’s National Team defeated world No. 2 Germany 1-0 Wednesday night at Talen Energy Stadium behind a 56th minute goal from Lynn Williams.

In her fifth cap, the 23-year-old scored the second goal of her international career, on a play where Christen Press’ initial shot hit the crossbar before Tobin Heath’s follow up eventually fell to Williams.

The Americans are now tied with France in the SheBelieves Cup group with three points after the French scored a late 2-1 winner against England in stoppage time.

In a relatively even game, the U.S. had the better chances and just edged out Germany. The story of the match was the relative success of Jill Ellis’ 3-4-1-2 with the unorthodox back line of Becky Sauerbrunn, Allie Long and Casey Short. The Germans did not aggressively press which afforded the back line enough time to possess comfortably, and the Americans leveraged their numbers advantage in the midfield.

The U.S. had the first chance of the game in the 10th minute when Crystal Dunn fired a pass from Samantha Mewis straight at goalkeeper Amult Schult. Germany responded two minutes later, as Sara Dabritz launched a dangerous shot from distance that Alyssa Naeher parried away.

The Americans dominated most of the second half and had the best chance to score on a Carli Lloyd breakaway that Schult saved between her legs.

Goalkeeper Naeher collected her seventh shutout in her eighth start and despite not having much to do, advanced her chances at being the keeper of the future.

Despite the win, Jill Ellis will still need to find ways to generate more offensive output from her side that is still too dominant on Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan. Her press bled some chances in the opening stages but eventually wore the Germans out and put them on the ropes in the second half.

The USWNT is back in action on Saturday when it travels to Red Bull Arena on Saturday to face England at 5 p.m. ET. Germany will face France at 2:15 p.m.