THESSALONIKI, Greece (August 17, 2004) – Midfielder Kristine Lilly scored a spectacular first-half goal, but the U.S. Women’s National Team allowed a late equalizer with just eight minutes left to tie Australia, 1-1, today at Kaftanzolglio Stadium in the USA’s final opening round match of the 2004 Olympics.

The draw gives the U.S. seven points and first place in Group G, meaning they will face Group E third place finisher Japan in the quarterfinals on Friday, August 20 at 6 p.m. (local) / 11 a.m. (ET) live on MSNBC and Telemundo. The USA finished group play with a 2-0-1 record, the same opening round record as in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics. In Japan, the USA faces perhaps the most underrated team in the tournament and a dangerous quarterfinal opponent. The USA and Japan have tied the last three times the teams have played.

The first 15 minutes of the match saw little in the way of scoring chances for either team as Australia came out in a 4-5-1 formation with speedy forward Sarah Walsh up top. Central defenders Joy Fawcett and Cat Reddick played fine games for the Americans, diffusing almost everything Australia threw at the USA in the first half. The USA played in a 4-4-2, but were without two regular starters as forward Cindy Parlow filled in for the suspended Abby Wambach and defender Heather Mitts replaced Christie Rampone at right back.

The game’s first shot didn’t come until the 16th minute, when U.S. midfielder Shannon Boxx smacked a low shot wide right from 25 yards out after a clever touch back from Parlow.

The U.S. broke through in the 19th minute and U.S. captain Julie Foudy was right in the middle of the action. She got possession on right flank before beating a defender on an inside cut and tried to cross. Her service was blocked, but Mia Hamm ran the ball down on the right side of the penalty and hit a quick cross that Parlow got a foot on, but her close-range spinning shot was well-saved be Australia goalkeeper Cassandra Kell. Australia failed to clear the ball though and it dropped to Foudy at right elbow of box. She then lofted a perfect far post chip to the streaking Lilly, who held off a defender and hit a sliding left-footed volley off Kell’s left hand and into the roof of the net from three yards out. The goal broke a 17-game scoreless streak for Lilly, but it was her ninth score in world championship competition and the 96th goal of her career.

Parlow had a good look at goal in the 40th minute, running onto a slick pass from Mia Hamm inside the six yard box, but her shot from a sharp angle skipped wide right as Australia defender Cheryl Salisbury crashed into her.

Australia’s best chance came in the 42nd minute when Walsh ran onto a long ball and got behind the defense, but the U.S. back line quickly recovered and Walsh’s cross sailed through the goal mouth without finding a target.

The U.S. had a great chance to make it 2-0 when Lilly won back a ball after being dispossessed on the left flank, took a touch forward and sent in a perfect cross to the middle of the box, where Foudy snapped a header just inches wide of the left post.

Walsh, who gave the USA trouble all night with her running on counter-attacks, put a scare into the U.S. defense in the 58th minute, running after a ball that Joy Fawcett had head backed to Briana Scurry, but the U.S. goalkeeper scoop up the ball before Walsh crashed into her.

Hamm in turn gave the Aussie back line fits with her running in the defensive third and forced Kell into numerous hurried clearances with her feet.

Australia had more of the game in the last 30 minutes as the U.S. team lost some of the rhythm it had early on, and the Matlidas fired four shots on the goal in the latter part of the match. Australia midfielder Joanne Peters had a good look at goal in the 62nd minute as she tried to lob Scurry with a 20-yard shot, but the U.S. goalkeeper back-tracked to make an easy save.

Sixteen-year-old midfielder Sally Shipard had a good chance in the 65th minute, crushing a low shot through traffic from 25 yards out that Scurry swallowed up and then the U.S. goalkeeper beat Walsh to a dangerous through ball just one minute later.

Second-half substitute Lisa de Vanna forced Fawcett to clear for a corner kick and on the resulting set piece the ball was cleared out to sub Gillian Foster, who ripped yet another low shot directly at Scurry in the 68th minute.

Australia finally got the equalizer when Peters cut in front of Foudy on a cross from Heather Garriock to head a looping shot over Scurry and under the crossbar in the 82nd minute.

The Americans pushed for the go-ahead goal in the remaining regulation time behind the fresh legs of second-half subs Heather O’Reilly, Lindsay Tarpley and Angela Hucles, but could not break through. Tarpley created the USA’s last good scoring opportunity in the 89th minute, fighting for a ball at the end line and crossing into the middle of the box where Parlow had a small opening, but hit her shot over the crossbar.

In other Group G action, Brazil thrashed Greece 7-0 to finish second in Group G. In its quarterfinal match, Brazil will play Mexico, who fell 2-0 to Germany. Germany easily won Group F and will play Group E runner-up Nigeria. Sweden rebounded from a surprise 1-0 loss to Japan and came back from a goal down to defeat Nigeria 2-1 and win Group E on the head-to-head tiebreaker after each had the same points, goal difference and number of goals scored.

If Sweden had lost they would have been out of the tournament, but instead they used goals in the 68th and 73rd minutes to defeat the Super Falcons, meaning that in a span of five minutes, the USA’s quarterfinal opponent went from China (who would have qualified had Sweden lost), to Sweden (who would have played the USA had they tied) to Japan (who was forced into the bottom of the group as they scored just one goal to Sweden and Nigeria’s two each). Sweden will face Australia in the other quarterfinal.

China, which was upset by Canada in the quarterfinals of the 2003 Women’s World Cup, was eliminated after its 8-0 loss to Germany and 1-1 tie with Mexico, and will have three years to re-build before they host the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Greece bowed out of the tournament with three losses and without scoring a goal while allowing 11.

USA: 1-Briana Scurry; 2-Heather Mitts, 4-Cat Reddick, 14-Joy Fawcett, 15-Kate Markgraf; 7-Shannon Boxx (5-Lindsay Tarpley, 67), 10-Aly Wagner (8-Angela Hucles, 74), 11-Julie Foudy (C), 13-Kristine Lilly; 12-Cindy Parlow, 9-Mia Hamm (17-Heather O'Reilly, 67).

Subs Not Used: 3-Christie Rampone, 6-Brandi Chastain, 18-Kristin Luckenbill.

Suspended: 16-Abby Wambach.

Head Coach: April Heinrichs.

AUS: 1-Cassandra Kell; 2-Rhian Davies, 3-Sacha Wainwright, 4-Dianne Alagich (11-Lisa De Vanna, 62), 5-Cheryl Salisbury (C); 13-Thea Slatyer (12-Karla Reuter, 43), 6-Sally Shipard, 8-Heather Garriock, 10-Joanne Peters, 17-Danielle Small (14-Gillian Foster, 67); 7-Sarah Walsh.

Subs Not Used: 18-Melissa Barbieri, 9-Kylie Ledbrook, 15-Tal Karp, 16-Selin Kuralay.

Head Coach: Adrian Santrac.

Referee: Christina Ionescu (Romania)

Asst. Referees: Katarzyna Nadolska (Poland), Nelly Viennot (France)

4th Official: Diana Ferreira-James (Guyana)

"We had a good first half, but in the second half we were a little dead and let them play too much and they stuck one in. We didn't dominate enough in the second half, but we finished with the tie, seven points and we are moving on so we are happy about that."

"For us, since I've been on this team, a tie has always felt like a loss. That's not on our agenda. Our agenda is to win, so when you set your goals that high, anything below that is disappointed. But now we have to step above that and we are moving onto the quarters, now it's do or die. We have to change our mindset. We are in this together and we have to put two good halves together and believe in each other and finish our chances."

"I think on the whole we are dissatisfied with our own performance…We'd like to self-evaluate and ask each player to raise her level slightly. If we do that, I think we can play in the manner necessary to succeed in the knockout phase."

"I thought we were commanding in the first half. We controlled the tempo of the game and we sprayed the ball around the field. We really forced Australia to chase a considerable amount. Then in the second half, we came out and were doing really well overall, and then we lost control of the game…Then it became a battle of fifty-fifty balls and that's not something you want to get into with any team, especially Australia as they are particularly strong in the air and on the ground."

"One of the most difficult things is to win consistently in the game of soccer, so we are pleased to come out of the group as the number one team with seven points. Brazil struggled to beat Australia and they are a fantastic team, so you can see there is great parity. Playing in the group of four teams has proven its challenges to a certain extent, now we look forward over the next two days to see if we can fine tune a couple things and then get into the knockout phase. I'm optimistic that in the knockout phase we will play with a little less caution, with a little more of the aggressive mentality."

"Japan has proven itself a worthy opponent in every respect. The last couple times we have played them it has been close games. They are athletic, technical, efficient, tactically gifted and playing with a lot of confidence."

"We had some players play outstanding soccer tonight. We had some players play outstanding the other nights and now we have to put that together from one game to the next and from the first half to the second half."

"She's a world-class player…She can impact a game at any moment. Abby has put on a display in this Olympics showing her mentality, her toughness and her sophistication and skill. The goal she scored against Brazil was fantastic so we'll be happy to have her back."

"It was hard. It was hard not to warm up. It's heartbreaking. I want to kick myself. It's one of those situations where if I just backed off and not gotten the yellow card…not that it's going to change what happened, because it's not. I am not going to be pouting about it, but it was hard to take and hard to watch us tie."

"Japan might be the most underrated team in the tournament. We are going to have to bring our "A" game. This is an awfully tough game for a top seed (after the USA won its group) coming into the quarterfinals. They are very tactical, very technical and very athletic. They shut us down in a lot of ways in that game (their earlier meeting on June 6) and I feel we may have been lucky to pull off a tie. Knowing that, we just have to be prepared and come out ready to play."

"We're disappointed we got a goal scored against us, but we are excited that we won the group and we're looking forward to the quarterfinals. We had a lot of chances early and didn't put them away and that hurt us in the end."

"I hoped it would go over, but I knew I couldn't get it. The way it was looping up, if I had tried to dive for it, I probably would have hit it in if I was able to even get a piece of it. It went right under the crossbar."

"They are a great team. It will be a tough battle for us. We're going to have to bring our mentality and our work rate because they are a hard working team. They are fit and keep the ball on the ground and keep it moving. We'll going to have to re-group, but we'll be running on all cylinders with Abby back."

"I thought Mia worked her tail off tonight and Lil scored a great goal. They always give us a lift and they'll continue to do that."

"I just wanted to whip it in there, but I would like to see the replay on that because she hit that well. She's so good at getting in at the back post like that. There was good communication, a couple of people told me I had time, so I had time to assess (the situation) and find her."

"You always miss Abby. She's such a presence. She's running through people and working her tail off. When you have her and Mia working, you saw how Mia worked tonight, it just creates chaos. It will be good to have her back."

"We knew we wanted to get number one (in the group) and we knew could get through with a point. You want to beat them, but at the same time, you know you have to play again in three days. So you have to kind of balance that, especially with an extra game (in the four-team group), you have to really be able to manage games, although we could have managed the game a bit better tonight by knocking in a second goal and then being able to knock the ball around a bit more. When you are in this quarterfinal phase, it's win or go home, so it's definitely a different mentality."

"We were tempted to do it much earlier, about 10 minutes in the first half it was a thought. The game is played and won over 90-95 minutes, so we have to be patient and make sure we are in touch with the game and doing what we need to do and not react to anything that's illogical. When Lisa did come on, the time was right. Just prior to that we were beginning to feel the momentum, we felt like it was the right time to throw Lisa on to make the difference for us. The midfielders picked up their game and we went four against four in the middle of the park and our girls really did pick up the momentum and dominate through the middle and created those opportunities up front. Lisa's pace is going to bother any team."