U.S. WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM TO FACE COLOMBIA IN EAST HARTFORD, CONN. ON APRIL 6 TO KICK OFF SPRING SCHEDULE

Hartford (Feb. 16, 2016) – The U.S. Women’s National Team will face Colombia on April 6 at Pratt & Whitney Stadium in East Hartford, Conn. (7 p.m. on FS1). The teams last met in the Round of 16 at the 2015 Women’s World Cup with the USA prevailing 2-0 in Edmonton on goals from Alex Morgan and Carli Lloyd.

Tickets go on sale to the public Friday, Feb. 19, at 10 a.m. ET through ussoccer.com or RentschlerField.com, by phone at 1-877-522-8499 (8 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET only) and at the XL Center ticket office starting Monday, Feb. 22 (open Monday-Friday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.). [Note: Tickets are not sold at Pratt & Whitney Stadium except on the day of the event.]

Colombia, which is ranked 25th in the world and second in South America behind Brazil, is one of the world’s up-and-coming women’s national teams. Colombia put in a fine performance at the World Cup last summer, drawing 1-1 with Mexico, defeating world power France 2-0, and then falling to eventual third-place finisher England 2-1 to complete group play.

The four points were enough to earn the Colombians a Round of 16 match with the USA and they put up quite a fight to the eventual world champions before bowing out.

“We want to play the best teams we can get, especially at home,” said U.S. head coach Jill Ellis. “Colombia gave us a very tough game at the World Cup and they present some unique problems to solve that will only help us continue to evolve as a team. Colombia is representative of the growth of the women’s game world-wide and we’re looking forward to the challenge in April.”

This will be the sixth trip to East Hartford for the U.S. Women which played at Pratt & Whitney Stadium, formerly Rentschler Field, in 2004, 2007, 2010, 2012 and most recently in June of 2014 in a 2-2 tie with France.

Additional Notes:

• The USA and Colombia have only played each other three times, but the history is recent and rich, with all three games coming in world championship play.
• This will be the first friendly match between the USA and Colombia. The three previous meetings saw the USA defeat Colombia 3-0 in group play at the 2011 Women’s World Cup, 3-0 in group play at the 2012 Olympics and 2-0 in the Round of 16 at the 2015 Women’s World Cup.