The U.S. women’s soccer team returns to St. Paul with a major question once answered by Briana Scurry

It’s a near-impossible task for a United States goalkeeper to get her Lily Yohannes moment — an electric spark of teenage stardom in St. Paul.

When the U.S. women’s national soccer team played at Allianz Field last June, the then 16-year-old midfielder scored in her national team debut, a 3-0 win over South Korea. Ahead of the United States’ return for Saturday’s friendly against China, she pointed to the corner of the stadium where she had celebrated and flashed a smile, revealing her braces.

“That was such a special moment for me,” Yohannes said, “so to be back here is kind of full-circle.”

For goalkeepers — a position that typically skews older — an early-20s debut is considered practically prodigious. Anoka’s Briana Scurry knows the feeling.

In 1994, the Dayton, Minn., native took over the starting role for the U.S., just after she wrapped up her senior year at Massachusetts. The only Minnesotan to have played for the senior-level national team, Scurry topped her 1989 Minnesota high school state championship by playing in 173 games, four World Cups and two Olympics for the U.S.

“That was literally 30 years ago ... and so now it’s happening again,” Scurry said. “That goalkeeper box, that check mark that has always been there, it’s now a question mark.”

After the December retirement of eight-year starter Alyssa Naeher, the national team comes to the Twin Cities working to pick out its next Scurry.

Leading up to the 2027 Women’s World Cup, U.S. head coach Emma Hayes is using friendlies, like Saturday’s, to test out a crop of less experienced keepers.

This roster’s trio of goalkeepers — Phallon Tullis-Joyce, age 28, Claudia Dickey, age 25, and Mandy McGlynn, age 26 — have only four national-team appearances between them. Since the U.S. won gold at the Paris Olympics in August, the pool of recent keeper call-ups has ranged from age 24 to 30.

“What I don’t want to do is develop a goalkeeper for [World Cup] ’27, and then we’re in exactly the same position again,” Hayes said. “I want to ensure that from ’27 to [the Olympics in] ’28 to [the World Cup in] ’31, that we get the development pathways right for the goalkeepers so that it is a lot more seamless.”

Scurry knows that the position has changed since her time in net. Keepers have to be quality shot-stoppers, able to repeat feats like Scurry’s penalty shootout win against China in 1999’s World Cup final. But now, goalkeepers must play the ball well with their feet, feeding into the team’s offense.

Not to mention: the pressure succeeding three Hall of Famers, amplified by social media and the rising attention turned toward women’s sports.

“People don’t understand how heavy that [No. 1 position] is,” Scurry said. “You know, 1995 — it’s very different now for someone going into 2027. It’s magnified.

“You are stepping into the shoes of ... world champion, Olympic champion goalkeepers who came before you, who basically, at some point in time in their careers, took the team and put it on their shoulders and carried it.”

Fans at Allianz Field will see one of either Manchester United’s Tullis-Joyce (one previous appearance), Seattle Reign’s Dickey (first call-up) and the Utah Royals’ McGlynn (three appearances) start in net. Then, Hayes will likely start another keeper for the team’s next friendly against Jamaica on June 3. Hayes has said she hopes to have a clearer picture of the position by the end of June.

“I think we’ve all been in that position where you’re new to the team, or it’s your first couple caps, and how overwhelming and maybe scary that can seem or feel,” midfielder Sam Coffey said. “They deserve to be here.”

After squeezing in a tour of Minnesota’s women’s sports teams — meeting up with the Lynx, Aurora and PWHL-champion Frost this week — the U.S. and Hayes will look to use Saturday to puzzle through a few more questions regarding the future of the team.

And even though Scurry was once the answer to that sort of question, even she doesn’t know the answer this time.

“It looks to me like Emma is defaulting to youth,” Scurry said. “I really think [the future in net] is wide open.”

4:30 p.m., Saturday at Allianz Field

TV: TBS Streaming: Max, Sling

The U.S. women’s national soccer team returns to Allianz Field for the fourth time to face China. Last June, the U.S. beat South Korea 3-0 in St. Paul. Coming off a gold medal at August’s Paris Olympics, the U.S. is using a series of summer friendly matches to experiment with new players lineups ahead of the 2027 Women’s World Cup. Though a few star forwards are out (Sophia Wilson and Mallory Swanson, pregnant) and Trinity Rodman (back), midfielder Lindsey Heaps (née Horan) leads the squad, and defender Naomi Girma returns from a calf injury.