Emma Hayes starts her USWNT tenure with an impressive 4-0 win over South Korea

Mallory Swanson and Tierna Davidson scored twice each in the next-to-last game before Hayes picks the Olympic team.

Mallory Swanson (left) scored two goals in a homecoming game for the Denver-area native.Read moreDavid Zalubowski / AP

Published June 1, 2024, 8:13 p.m. ET

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — Emma Hayes’ tenure as U.S. women’s soccer team manager got off to a roaring start on Saturday, as Mallory Swanson and Tierna Davidson each scored twice to power a 4-0 win over South Korea.

Swanson scored with sharp finishes in the 34th and 74th minutes, and Davidson got her head to a pair of corner kicks in the 38th and 48th. The U.S. outshot South Korea 15-4 overall, including 9-1 in shots on target.

Surprises right away

With the Olympics starting next month, Hayes doesn’t have much time to change how the U.S. plays, or who’s a part of the team’s core. This was the first of just two games before she selects her Olympic roster with the second game coming Tuesday against South Korea in St. Paul, Minn. (8 p.m., truTV, Universo, Max, Peacock).

But Hayes made two small tweaks in her first starting lineup that got plenty of attention. The first was moving Catarina Macario back to an attacking midfield role, instead of the forward job she’s traditionally had.

That freed up a spot on the front line, and Hayes used it to start Sophia Smith at striker instead of at right wing where she’d been for a while. Smith is naturally a striker, but how the U.S. has played over time gave her plenty of opportunities to cut in from the right and shoot.

Starting Smith centrally also allowed Swanson and Trinity Rodman to start as the wingers, a big-time combination of attacking thrust — and the first time those two and Smith all started together.

Perhaps that might have happened sooner had Smith and Swanson not endured injuries last year. But it rightly got attention, with an extra dose because of who it left out: Jaedyn Shaw and, most significantly, Alex Morgan. Shaw was a second-half substitute, but Morgan did not play at all.

Hayes said Morgan didn’t play because of some pelvic pain she felt in the days before the game, and said she expects Morgan to play on Tuesday.

Colorado connection

Smith, Swanson, and U.S. captain Lindsey Horan are all from the Denver suburbs and got huge roars from the packed crowd of 19,010 when they were introduced in the starting lineup.

Smith and Swanson would combine beautifully on the Americans’ opening goal. With South Korea’s defense packed in, Naomi Girma took her time and fed Smith, who played a sublime one-touch flick for Swanson to race on to. Swanson got to it and smashed the ball past Kim Jung-Mi for the opening goal.

Swanson’s second goal came in the 74th. Substitute Rose Lavelle sprung her with an inch-perfect through ball, and Swanson was just as precise with the finish.

Davidson’s goals were her second and third in 58 U.S. appearances — which means she’d scored just one in her previous 57 matches. It was a goal that came back in 2018. However, Macario served up the first corner kick in this game, and Swanson the second.

The first one came after a classic piece of U.S. high pressure: Smith stole the ball off centerback Hong Hyeji, raced away, then squared for Swanson, who let it roll to Horan for a 20-yard blast that Kim dove to punch away.

Second-half moves

Hayes had six substitutions to play with, and she used them all. The first was a right back swap to start the second half, with Casey Krueger entering for Emily Fox.

The 61st minute brought a quadruple swap: Jaedyn Shaw for Smith, Sam Staab (making her U.S. debut) for Davidson, Lavelle for Macario, and Crystal Dunn for Rodman. Swanson went to the striker spot, and Dunn played at right wing after years of playing left back.

It got a lot of attention when the roster announcement for this month listed Dunn as a forward, the position she used to play for the national team — and where she has long played for clubs, as well as in midfield at times. Hayes said a few days later that she already knew well what Dunn could do at left back, so she wanted to see Dunn in an attacking role.

Dunn on the right flank was a bit surprising. Even when she plays attacking positions, she usually does so on the left side.

Korbin Albert was the last entrant, replacing Horan in the 71st minute. Albert was roundly booed by fans who remained offended by her transphobic social media activity in the past. She apologized in March after criticism from high-profile figures including current and former U.S. players, led by Megan Rapinoe, Sam and Kristie Mewis, and Lynn Williams.

Six players did not play: Morgan, backup goalkeepers Casey Murphy and Aubrey Kingsbury, versatile defender Emily Sonnett, and young midfielders Hal Hershfelt (who’s in her first U.S. camp) and Lily Yohannes.