Mal Swanson, Ashley Sanchez savor return to USWNT scoresheet vs. Spain with first international goals in years originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
CHESTER, P.A.— Immediately after the USWNT match Tuesday night, the moment hadn't quite sunk in yet for either Mallory Swanson or Ashley Sanchez just yet.
Goals for both helped the United States claw back from a self-imposed two-goal deficit, securing a 2-2 draw with Spain, the world's top-ranked nation, outside Philadelphia to salvage a positive result in an otherwise difficult and draining two-game series.
"I think what's crazy is that it's been two years since I've scored for this team," said Swanson after the game. "Obviously being out last year and then coming back this year, so yea I think that I'm honestly just super grateful, my family was here and it was just a really good way to keep pushing forward.
MORE: USWNT player ratings from the 2-2 draw with Spain on Tuesday
Sanchez cut an antsy figure in the tunnel after the game , openly saying she hadn't quite felt the flood of emotions yet even as her body bobbed back and forth restlessly.
"I feel like I haven't processed it really yet," she said to reporters, "but I'm sure I'll feel really good about it in an hour or something when the adrenaline shuts down a bit."
An antsy Ashley Sanchez clearly had a weight off her shoulders after the match having scored her first #USWNT goal since 2022. "I haven't processed it really yet, but I'm sure I'll feel really good about it in about an hour or something once the adrenaline shuts down a bit." 😅 https://t.co/dbEeSmxSZ4
— Kyle Bonn (@the_bonnfire) October 14, 2026
It's been a long, arduous journey for both players since the last time they found the net for the U.S. national team.
Sanchez has spent the longest time away, having last scored for the USWNT back in July of 2022 in a 3-0 victory over Costa Rica in the CONCACAF W Championship semifinals. While she was included in Vlatko Andonovski's squad for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, she didn't see a single minute in the tournament, which left a bitter taste in her mouth.
She was then traded from the Washington Spirit, where she'd spent her entire club career to that point, to the NC Courage in 2024, a move that she called at the time "shocked and heartbroken." Through it all, Sanchez has never felt settled, having seven club coaches in seven professional years.
Finally, a position change this season has seen Sanchez explode to life , leading the NWSL with 20 goals in 27 matches, a mark which has tied the league's single-season goals record with still three games left to break it.
The goal for the USWNT last night capped an exceptional performance for Sanchez, who was the best player on the pitch for the hosts. She not only found the back of the net in a critical moment, but also did everything Emma Hayes had charged her with — defending, pressing high, and providing an outlet for her teammates when Spain was starting to hem the team in.
For Swanson, the road back has been difficult as well. Her last goal for the national team came in the gold medal match of the 2024 Olympics against Brazil, a goal which won the title for the U.S. women. Even then, she had only just recovered from a torn patellar tendon, which ruined her chance of being on the 2023 World Cup squad and required a year of recovery.
MORE: Emma Hayes produced another coaching masterclass against Spain
After the Olympics, Swanson mysteriously disappeared from both club and national team selection, until it was announced in May of 2025 that she was pregnant, giving birth in November of that year. She has spent the months since first serving as a parent, and then returning to full match fitness, finally making her first national team appearances this window against Spain.
For their full-circle contributions in the draw on Tuesday evening, their USWNT teammates were maybe even more emotional than those two, as they got a front-row seat to their redemption stories.
"It's incredible what they did," said team captain Lindsey Heaps, "I'm so happy for Sanchez to come back and score a goal again, and then Mal, what more can I say without getting emotional? I'm so happy for her, and it's a real boost for this team."
"I'm just so happy for them," said Rose Lavelle after the game. "Sanchez is having an incredible season, so it's no surprise she was able to find the back of the net today. I think she's been really efficient and dangerous in the final third, and we obviously really needed that today, so that was huge. I think for Mal, it's so incredible seeing her be a mom, I think she makes everything look so easy, and coming back from pregnancy is obviously not easy, but she makes it look easy, and I think that was just so deserved and earned."
There were, of course, lots of concerns that could be drawn from these two games against Spain. The midfield was consistently overrun with the scoreline even, the attack often lacked real teeth until the U.S. was chasing the game, and the defensive errors were nothing short of glaring.
Yet the emphatic return of these two stars highlights the way the USWNT is able to bring formerly great players back from the depths of absences due to injury, pregnancy, or form which can be a significant aid for Emma Hayes when preparing for next summer's World Cup.
This team has plenty to work on as they move forward, but being able to feed off the emotional triumphs of teammates will be a true advantage as they build into the future, knowing they have the ability to boost each other emotionally and collectively share off each individual success.
As Hayes put it after the match, "The strength was in the size of our pack." It's clear that the size of the pack is not the only boon, but the collective togetherness of the group as well.
"We're still in progress," Hayes added. "They [Spain] are deserving of being world champions, our job is to hunt that." When the pack goes out to hunt, every player must contribute to bring down the mark, especially those with something to prove.
