There were some factoids that emerged prior to Wednesday night’s match between the U.S. women’s national team and New Zealand. With an average of just 17.3 caps, this was the least-experienced USWNT lineup in 25 years. It featured three teenagers – for the second straight game – to combine for an average age of 23.2.

Captain Rose Lavelle had 114 caps, more than all the rest of the starting XI combined. But, despite all of their youthful naivety, this U.S. team did something that its predecessors have done for years and years: overpower an overmatched opponent.

Led by the first international hat-trick from relative newcomer Emma Sears, the U.S. never let up against New Zealand in a 6-0 win, and, realistically, it could have been much worse. This was a game with goals in it from the very start and the USWNT made sure to score them. Sears netted three, Catarina Macario got two and Lavelle, the veteran, got one of her own.

It was a masterclass from top to bottom against a New Zealand team that, in reality, had no way of stopping what was to come. The USWNT now have 20 wins, one loss and one draw in 22 all-time meetings with New Zealand.

Coach Emma Hayes will be proud of the decisive outcome. After two tough games against Portugal, she handed the keys to many of her least experienced players for a different kind of test. The expectation was always going to be to win by a lot, not just win, and that comes with its own sort of pressure.

The U.S. was never fazed by that. In fact, they seemed determined to score more and more even as the game wore on.

“It’s exciting to see the future of this team,” Michelle Cooper told TNT. “To be able to have multiple players change our starting lineup and still be able to raise the level and get a win out of that, it really speaks to the future of this team and what Emma has done here.”

This, then, was a good step for some of the USWNT’s younger players, from debutant Kennedy Wesley right up to the likes of Sears, who headlined the group that has been making their way into the team since the post-Olympic phase last year. This was the most lopsided win in that stretch, one that will see the U.S. end an October that started with a surprising low feeling very high.

“We knew that we had another level to go,” Macario told TNT post-game. “When you’re apart for like four months or so, and Portugal played a great game against us and it was a different challenge, one that took us a while to solve. But we bounced back in the second game. And I think it’s about staying together and bringing our qualities – that’s what we did today, and we were really intentional in doing that. It was a good end to the camp.”

GOAL breaks down the winners and losers from CPKC Stadium.