Wisconsin Soccer Central

Shannon Smyth (Mequon/Milwaukee DSHA) came on at halftime in both matches as the Republic of Ireland dropped a pair of international friendlies to the U.S. women's national team last week.

Alex Morgan had a hat trick in the Americans' 5-0 rout on Wednesday night in Portland, Ore., then opened the scoring just 44 seconds into a 2-0 victory on Saturday night in Glendale, Ariz.

The 25-year-old Smyth, who plays professionally for Amazon Grimstad FK in Norway's Toppserien, was subbed in to an attacking role in each match. However, the Irish struggled to find many chances against the world's top-ranked team – the U.S. had a 20-3 shot advantage Wednesday and a 17-2 margin Saturday.

Smyth was born in Milwaukee but has dual citizenship because her father is Irish. She has collected 18 caps for Ireland, which is winless in 10 matches all-time against the U.S.

The games were part of the Americans' "Fan Tribute Tour" following their gold-medal performance at the London Olympics over the summer. The U.S. is 5-0-2 on the tour heading into matches against China on Dec. 8 in Detroit, Dec. 12 in Houston and Dec. 15 in Boca Raton, Fla., and 25-1-3 overall in 2012.