One more for the Americans!

Southern California native Shannon Boxx and the rest of the U.S. Women's National Team faced off against the Chinese Women's National Team last night at the Home Depot Center in the penultimate match of the Achieve Your Gold Tour. The 10 game tour is a celebration of the U.S. Women's Gold medal victory in August at the Beijing Summer Olympics and wraps up in Detroit on Wednesday night.

With nothing at stake for either side, drama was in short supply, but the Americans created a few chances in the first half while controlling much of the action and pace. The teams entered the second half deadlocked at zero, but the U.S. women would take the lead just past the hour mark when Tina Ellertson scored her first career International goal. Ellertson's goal proved to be the game winner, providing the Americans with their third victory over China this year.

Ellertson's goal not only won the game, but was somewhat unexpected. Although this was her 33rd career appearance with the National Team, all previous appearances had been as a defender. A curious note because she played as forward through her college years and was converted into a defender when she debuted with the National Team in 2005. U.S. Head Coach Pia Sundhage must have seen something interesting in Ellertson during practice, given she added Ellertson to the starting lineup as a forward against the Chinese. Time will tell how that story plays out, but for now, it seems to have yielded positive results.