Ireland, OR (Sports Network) - Alex Morgan produced a first-half hat trick and Sydney Leroux added a second-half brace to help the United States women's national team to 5-0 win in a friendly match with Ireland at Jeld-Wen Field on Wednesday.
Morgan opened the scoring in the 24th minute when she latched on to a long ball from Heather Mitts, drifted inside to the top of the box and fired a shot off the post and into the back of the net.
She doubled the advantage 10 minutes later when Lauren Cheney slipped her a lateral pass to tuck home with her second touch.
The United States went three goals up one minute before halftime when Morgan's shot from outside the penalty area was blocked. She collected the second attempt and curled a low shot past goalkeeper Emma Byrne.
Leroux extended the United States' lead in the 62nd minute off of an assist from Heather O'Reilly and wrapped up the scoring nine minutes from time with a shot through the arms of Byrne from a tough angle.
The United States and Ireland will meet again on Saturday in Arizona.
