VANCOUVER -- The United States womens soccer team wasnt about to let Mexico get in its way again. Deion Sanders Falcons Jersey . Midfielder Carli Lloyd led the way with her first career hat trick for the American national team in a 4-0 win over Mexico at the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament. The United States clinched first place in Group B and will face Costa Rica in Fridays semifinals. Mexico has a tougher semifinal against Group A champion Canada. The winners of both semifinals qualify for the 2012 London Games. The last time the two sides met in a competitive game in November 2010 in Cancun, Mexico who came away with a 2-1 victory to qualify for last summers World Cup. The Americans had to take the long road to qualify by beating Italy in a home and away playoff. The U.S. served up a bit of payback Tuesday, and gave themselves a less hazardous route to the tournament final. "It was redemption for us. We came out strong and knew we had to get it done," Lloyd said. "Theres no second chances for Olympic qualifying so we made sure that we got into the semifinals and the semifinal is going to be the big one." Heather OReilly scored for the Americans just a minute after Lloyd opened the scoring. "Well Im very happy about our four goals and especially Carli Lloyd--the way she was the end product of set pieces. So we did well with set pieces," said U.S. head coach Pia Sundhage. Mexico will need a better effort to get past Canada and into the Olympics. Canada finished the preliminary round undefeated at 3-0 and outscored its opponents 13-1. "They have an experienced team and we need to play better than we did today," Mexican head coach Leonardo Cuellar said of the Canadians. "We need to be more concerned about the possession of the ball. Canada has changed their style with the new coach." U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo is nursing a pulled quad, and was grabbing her right leg at times during the match. She said she became "a little worried" that she would have to leave the game, but she held on to play the entire 90 minutes. Solo says she hurt the leg about three days ago. She said it was the result of the extra work shes been putting in as she tries to get back into soccer shape after appearing on "Dancing With the Stars." She said she should be ready for the semifinals. It didnt take long for the Americans to break down a Mexican team that was out-played from start to finish. After Rachel Buehler hit the post with her shot, a fortunate bounce came to Lloyd, who easily headed the ball in to silence a large portion of pro-Mexican fans. The Americans doubled their advantage just a minute later when Amy Rodriguez led an attack up the left side and lofted a cross into the 18-yard box. Cecilia Santiago, Mexicos 17-year old goalkeeper misjudged the cross and OReilly scored from close range. "They are just the best, simple as that. Theyre the best team in the world," Cuellar said. "For us to be in the game we needed to have a good beginning and we didnt have it. We gave away two early goals so the team was not capable to get settled." The Americans put the game away in the 57th minute. Lauren Cheney took a free kick from the right side and Lloyd added her second goal, rising above the Mexican defence and heading home from close range at the far post. Lloyd scored the next two goals, with her fourth coming with just four minutes left in the game as she converted from close range on a Megan Rapinoe corner. Crockett Gillmore Ravens Jersey . -- Helio Castroneves paced the first day of IndyCar practice at Barber Motorsports Park, setting the stage for what could be more domination by Penske Racing. Pernell McPhee Ravens Jersey . Not all the credit can be given to Mariota, Mark Helfrich has orchestrated a seamless transition from Kelly at head coach, but the redshirt sophomores performance has allowed the Ducks to pick up where they left off in torturing opposing defences on a weekly basis. http://www.wholesalejerseysnflcheap.us.com/ . A report posted on the Denver Posts website Monday night says Roys younger brother, Stephane Roy, leaked the impending announcement. Julius Peppers Jersey .ca looks back at 10 memorable storylines from the history of the event in 10 days. Allen Robinson Jaguars Jersey . Davis. CHICAGO -- Rashad Evans unanimously outpointed fellow former Big Ten wrestler Phil Davis in a five-round light heavyweight fight at UFC Chicago on Saturday night.(Sports Network) - The top-seeded New York Rangers survived a tough test in the opening round of the playoffs and will take on the surprising Washington Capitals today at Madison Square Garden for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Rangers were forced to come back from a 3-2 series deficit to topple the eighth-seeded Ottawa Senators in the conference quarterfinals. New York ultimately won Thursdays Game 7 by a 2-1 score in regulation to advance into the second round for the first time since 2008. New York, which won the Atlantic Division title this season, is the top seed in the East for the first time since it won its last Stanley Cup title in 1994. The Rangers will be aiming for their first conference finals appearance since 1997. The Rangers defeated Ottawa in the first round by utilizing their superior defense and goaltending, a formula that has helped them be successful all year long. Under head coach John Tortorella, New York was ranked third in the NHL this season in goals allowed, yielding an average of just 2.22 goals per contest. The Blueshirts did even better than that in the first round, surrendering just 13 goals over the seven games. New Yorks best player is often goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, a four-time Vezina Trophy finalist. In addition to landing another Vezina nod this season, the 30-year-old Swede was also named as a finalist for the Hart Trophy on Friday. Lundqvist posted terrific numbers in the first round against Ottawa, allowing 12 goals on 217 shots for a .945 save percentage and a 1.70 goals-against average. He is 19-23 all-time in the postseason with a 2.45 GAA and a .915 save percentage. While the Rangers boast a world-class goaltender and one of the best defensive units in the league, New Yorks forward depth leaves something to be desired. The teams offense would certainly improve if top sniper Marian Gaborik can get his game back on track after a disappointing first round. The speedy Gaborik led the Rangers with 41 goals and 76 points during the regular season, but he finished with one goal and two assists against Ottawa and was held pointless in the last three games of the series. Brian Boyle led the club with three goals against Ottawa, but his status for the conference semifinals is cloudy. Boyle suffered a concussion in Game 5 against Ottawa and sat out the last two games of the series, but the centerman is questionable for Game 1. Forward Brandon Dubinsky is also questionable for today with a leg injury suffered in Game 7 against Ottawa. Top centerman Brad Richards led New York with five points on two goals and three assists in the opening round. Richards, a proven playoff performer who won the Conn Smythe Trophy during Tampa Bays Stanley Cup title in 2004, is partaking in his first playoff run as a Ranger. The Rangers are well-established as a defense-first team, but Washington head coach Dale Hunter has somehow instilled the same qualities in a Capitals team that was known in recent years for scoring and not much else. Hunters system worked like a charm in Round 1, as the seventh-seeded Capitals ousted the defending Stanley Cup chhampion Boston Bruins in the conference quarterfinals. Jimmy Smith Authentic Jersey. Washington beat the Bruins in seven games, outscoring the second-seeded club by a 16-15 margin in an tightly-contested series. One issue with the Capitals system is that Washingtons star sniper Alex Ovechkin has seen his ice time dwindle under Hunter, who took over the head coaching job when Bruce Boudreau was fired in late November. While other Capitals like Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin, who are both known mostly for their scoring, have bought into Hunters strategy, Ovechkin is still struggling to mesh with the new coachs philosophy. Even with his reduced ice time, Ovechkin managed to lead all Washington players with five points (2G, 3A) in the opening round of the postseason. Hunter has been given a great deal of credit for Washingtons upset of the Bruins in the first round, and deservedly so, but its hard to ignore the contributions of rookie goaltender Braden Holtby. The 22-year-old Holtby was forced into a starting role in Round 1 after Washingtons top-two netminders -- Tomas Vokoun and Michal Neuvirth -- were both sidelined with injuries heading into the playoffs. Neuvirth has since returned to health, but Hunter was wise to keep using the red-hot rookie as the starter. Holtby had 21 games of regular-season experience under his belt, but had never seen action in an NHL playoff game before Game 1 against the Bruins. A fourth- round draft pick by Washington in 2008, Holtby stopped 233-of-248 shots in the seven games against Boston for a .940 save percentage and a 2.00 goals-against average. He also won Game 7 in overtime, stopping 31-of-32 shots to shock the Bruins. The Rangers and Caps split four meetings this year with each team winning a game at home and on the road. Overall, Washington outscored the Blueshirts by a 13-11 margin during the 2011-12 season series. Lundqvist played in three of the four games against the Capitals in the regular season and went 2-1 with a 3.00 GAA and .859 save percentage. Holtby faced the Rangers once this season on April 7 in New York and stopped 35-of-36 shots to help Washington earn a 4-1 victory. However, the Rangers had little to play for when they faced Holtby a few weeks ago, having already clinched the division title and the top seed in the East. This marks the seventh playoff series between the Rangers and Capitals and Washington has taken four of those six matchups. The Capitals beat New York in the conference quarterfinals in both 2009 and 2011, winning last years series in just five games. The last time the Rangers defeated Washington was in the 1994 conference semifinals. "It is the past and you try not to think about it, but its hard because they knocked us out two different years. We really want to beat this team. Its a great challenge for us to face this team now. Theyre playing well, theyre a confident group. Its going to be exciting and interesting to see how this plays out," said Lundqvist of New Yorks recent playoff history against the Caps. Game 2 of this best-of-seven series is scheduled for Monday night in New York. ' ' '