Trinity Rodman flashes new USWNT style in Olympic-opening win - ESPN

NICE, France — Trinity Rodman was nervous on the bus ride into the stadium here Thursday night. It was her first Olympic game for the United States women's national team, and Rodman knew she needed to get touches on the ball before she'd really feel comfortable.

Turns out, that wasn't a problem.

Rodman's dazzling spin move — she proudly called it a «Trin Spin» — led to a gorgeous goal early in the first half and stood as the highlight of a 3-0 victory over Zambia that wasn't nearly as close as the scoreline might indicate.

Mallory Swanson scored the other two goals for the Americans just over a minute apart to give new coach Emma Hayes a straightforward win in her major tournament debut, but Rodman's turn on defender Martha Tembo was the standout moment that made the small but spirited crowd at the Allianz Riviera take notice.

Taking a pass from Lindsey Horan in the 17th minute, Rodman whirled around in an instant before calmly finishing beneath Zambian goalkeeper Ngambo Musole.

«That was just an instinctual thing because I haven't really trained that,» Rodman said. «But it worked out perfectly.

»I think in that situation I knew that if I took a touch in front of me, it probably would've put me out of the frame of the goal," Rodman added. «I was trying to just put her off balance, which worked, so I'm happy about that.»

The U.S. dominated most of the first half, peppering the Zambia goal even before Pauline Zulu was sent off for fouling Sophia Smith and denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. The U.S. registered 27 shots for the game and hit the bar twice in addition to having several chances cleared off the line.

«The first part of the first half was exceptional — to come out the way we did,» Hayes said. «The