Survive and advance: USWNT reaches Olympic semi-finals after gritty win over Netherlands on penalties

The U.S. were pushed all the way by a game Dutch side, but Alyssa Naeher's penalty heroics helped send her side to the last four

Survive and advance. That is the mantra in any knockout tournament and it was undoubtedly personified by the U.S. women’s national team on Friday.

The USWNT battled through 120 minutes of their Olympic quarter-final against the Netherlands, managing to stay alive and take the game to penalties after a 2-2 draw.

In the spot-kick period, Alyssa Naeher cemented her status as a USWNT goalkeeping legend by saving two penalties after she had already stopped a late penalty in regulation.