USA vs. Mexico Women's Soccer: Score and Twitter Reaction from 2015 Friendly

The U.S. Women's National Team cruised to victory in their first of two tune-up friendlies before the 2015 Women's World Cup, dispatching rivals Mexico 5-1 Sunday night at StubHub Center in Carson, California.

Braces from Sydney Leroux and Abby Wambach paved the way for the Americans, who scored four second-half goals in a momentum-building performance that may be a sign of things to come in Canada. Lori Chalupny also netted a goal for the winning side.

USA improved to 31-1-1 all-time against their North American rivals. A dominating first-half performance from Mexico goalkeeper Cecilia Santiago—who finished with six saves—and a 39th-minute equalizer put that in jeopardy only briefly, before the U.S. finally took advantage of their chances in the final frame, as Fox Soccer noted:

Most of head coach Jillian Ellis' starting 11 is seemingly set before shipping off to Canada, but Leroux—who has found herself fighting for a starting spot—may have given her coach something to think about. Not only did she score for the first time in 2015, but netted two of them and constantly wreaked havoc on the left wing.

Her performance caught the eye of NBC Sports' Jeff Kassouf, among others:

Up next for both teams is more friendly action before the World Cup. The U.S. will host Korea Republic May 30 in their final tune-up action, while Mexico has two scheduled friendlies against Costa Rica before taking on a difficult World Cup group including France, England and Colombia.

A high-flying start from the U.S. looked to set the tone for another lopsided American victory. But their North American neighbors are much improved, and they made it clear that Sunday's friendly wouldn't be another typical U.S. demolition of Mexico.

That effort began in the net and trickled down, as Mexico goaltender Cecilia Santiago dominated the match early with five first-half saves. She denied Megan Rapinoe three times in the first 14 minutes alone.

But Santiago's heroics couldn't delay the inevitable. Rapinoe found Leroux in space down the left side, and she did the rest, dribbling around Santiago and finishing at a tough angle to give the U.S. a 1-0 28th-minute lead.

Instead of that goal opening up the floodgates, it did the exact opposite. The U.S. settled down uncharacteristically, allowing Mexico to get level on a brilliant set-piece header by Ariana Calderon that broke a near five-year drought, as Fox Soccer noted:

The conceded goal continued a frustrating trend for the U.S. women, as Jeff Carlisle of ESPN observed:

After entering halftime level with a side they have historically dominated, something must have been said in the locker room. Because the dominating performance flush with goals that was expected all along finally came to the surface.

Coming on at halftime, Wambach immediately made an impact by setting up Chalupny for an open goal that gave the U.S. the lead. Just 12 minutes later, Wambach scored from the penalty spot to push its advantage to 3-1 and showed good form in the process, as Caitlin Murray noted:

Wambach's dominance over Mexico has spanned her entire career, as Paul Carr of ESPN noted her success against the side:

The goal-scoring outburst continued up until the final whistle, as Leroux added her second with the goalkeeper out of the net to make it 4-1. However, that score paled in comparison to the incredible move by Tobin Heath before a cross that set up Wambach's second goal, per USWNT:

Rapinoe's strike from outside the box in the 89th minute nearly capped off a stellar second half for the U.S., before an offside call negated it. But the damage was already done.

The attacking prowess that the Americans showcased throughout the final 45 minutes wasn't a huge contrast from the first 45. It took quite some time for the floodgates to open, which is more a credit to Mexico's improvement than any sloppy play from the hosts.

Sunday was far from a perfect performance from the Americans, especially early on. But a resounding bounce-back second half will be crucial in building on the U.S. momentum entering this summer.

Only one friendly match stands between the U.S. women and the World Cup, as they face Korea Republic May 30 before their group-stage opener against Australia June 8. One more opportunity to craft up some chemistry and tie up those loose ends awaits, before a telling month in Canada.