WOMEN’S SOCCER : U.S. Wins Again in World Event

Michelle Akers-Stahl scored two goals as the United States beat Japan on Thursday, 3-0, and finished the opening round of the first women’s soccer world tournament with a perfect record.

Wendy Gebauer also scored for the United States, which already was assured of reaching the quarterfinals. The Americans, who have outscored opponents, 11-2, on the way to a 3-0 record, will play Taiwan (1-2) in Sunday’s quarterfinals. In other quarterfinals, Sweden plays China, Italy plays Norway and Denmark plays Germany.

“The priority in this game was to rest our starting players who have been injured,” U.S. Coach Anson Dorrance said. “What this does is get our players rested for the next game. It’s very difficult to play four games in eight days.”

Carin Jennings and Akers-Stahl were taken out at halftime, joining the other regular starters--Shannon Higgins, Joy Biefeld and captain April Heinrichs--on the bench.