BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil -- Several members of the U.S. Olympic womens soccer team faced a history pop quiz of sorts when they met the media in advance of Wednesdays opening game against New Zealand. The largely Brazil-based media contingent wanted to talk about the last major tournament game played at the Estadio Mineirao, a mens World Cup semifinal two years ago that did not go the host teams way. Decidedly so.Yes, Kelley OHara replied, she remembered watching Brazil and Germany play that day.No, Hope Solo said, she didnt imagine another 7-1 scoreline would unfold in this tournament.They played along, but their focus is less on any history already made and more on history yet to be written.Already the only country to win three consecutive Olympic gold medals in womens soccer, the United States is attempting to make it four in a row. Doing so would guarantee another unprecedented feat: becoming the first team to win World Cup and Olympic titles in back-to-back years.The only way to claim such prizes is to play like the experienced team that this group is.And not like the inexperienced team ... that this group also is.More than half of the U.S. roster is taking part in the Olympics for the first time. That is notable turnover for a team that won gold four years ago in the London Games. Yet only four players in Brazil are part of a major tournament roster for the first time.More to the point, only four players havent won a major title.Given that 2011 World Cup champion Japan didnt qualify for this Olympics and only six players remain from Germanys 2007 World Cup championship team, the American roster that has so many Olympic rookies also owns a near monopoly on experience winning an event of the same magnitude as whats about to unfold across Brazil.The starting lineup Wednesday could have six first-time Olympians. It also could have seven world champions, eight if Morgan Brian reclaims a spot after dealing with a hamstring injury.We have a lot of new faces in their first world championship, and then we have a lot of world champions, as well, midfielder Tobin Heath said. So in that way I think its great because we have that depth of experience, but we also have this great energy about the team that everyone is excited to be here because this is a world championship. Everyone wants to play their role.The United States first opponent is evidence that this tournament is tricky in its own fashion. Though New Zealand hasnt beaten the U.S. women in the World Cup and in the Olympics era (New Zealands lone win in the series came in 1987), it is not the pushover it once was. The United States won 4-0 in the most recent meeting a year ago, but the margin was just 9-3 in the four relatively recent games that preceded that encounter. That included a 1-1 draw on American soil in 2013.Compare that to a 34-1 U.S. goal advantage in seven meetings between 1993 and 2008.Especially in a group without either African entrant -- both South Africa and Zimbabwe are untested programs at this level -- these Olympics offer the Americans little breathing room and even less time to catch their breath. Assuming the U.S. women advance from Group G, they will play their first four games in 10 days, compared to a 15-day span for the Americans first four games in last years World Cup. And if the United States doesnt win Group G, that fourth game might well be a quarterfinal against Germany. Things can go wrong quickly in the Olympics.Add to it that the Americans enter the game against New Zealand with at least moderate injury question marks. Coach Jill Ellis said Tuesday that Brian, Heath and Megan Rapinoe are all actively training and available. She made it sound as if Rapinoe would be counted on more in the future, which wouldnt be unlike the situation Ellis managed with Alex Morgan at the outset of the World Cup a year ago, while Brian and Heath are closer to unencumbered options.All the more reason the United States needs to play from the outset like a team that has been here before.And for as much talk as there is about turnover and new faces, understandably, some have been here before. Likely starters Morgan, OHara and Becky Sauerbrunn were Olympic rookies in 2012; now they are the experience. Carli Lloyd is after her third gold medal, perhaps on her third winning goal. Solo becomes only the second American womens soccer player to travel to four Olympics (the first as an alternate).I know what to expect on a daily basis, Solo said of the roster. But I dont know what to expect when you have the intensity of a major tournament, when you have two days between every game -- how some of the players are going to recover, especially some of the players coming back from injury, especially some of the younger players. Its a mentally and physically very taxing tournament. It can be emotionally taxing as well.I think thats fun, to not know what to expect because somehow, [in] some way well figure it out. Whether its through subs, whether its through putting your arm around someone like Mallory Pugh and being like, Well get through this. Its not always going to be pretty, but well figure it out. That theme keeps appearing when the players with the most experience talk about this team, perhaps surprisingly, given at least the public perceptions of many of the players involved. Whether seen as intensely introspective, like Sauerbrunn, intensely outspoken, like Solo, or just intensely focused, like Lloyd and Morgan, they are now the core of the experience that Ellis said brings a voice of levity to the locker room.That seems to be the identity they want, knowing that we will make it out to be their strength if they win and their weakness if they lose.The casualness of this team is, I think, a positive thing, Morgan said. In the past its been so tense leading up to tournaments because we had very intense players like Abby [Wambach]. I think not having a big player like that, thats very loud and intense, I think its good for us. Because I think for the younger players, they might stress out over seeing just how many games we have in such a short period of time and the impact we can have at this level. I think its good to have.It is a young team, but its a team on which almost everyone has experienced what is required to win a title.It isnt the same team that entered past Olympics. It enters off World Cup success instead of disappointment. But the goal is the same.Every time we play in a major tournament, we want to win, Lloyd said. So I think there was that motivation, and its almost like the year after the World Cup you are able to make things better. But I think its just [about] winning. Im a winner. Every time I go out there I want to win. No matter if its a World Cup or Olympics, whether were going for a fourth consecutive or whether we havent won, thats just kind of the nature of this team. Jesper Bratt Devils Jersey . Brad Jacobs and his Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., team took control of the game early. Taylor Hall Jersey . The 43-year-old closer, in his 19th and final big league season, has said hed like to play the outfield. Yankees manager Joe Girardi says hes thinking about allowing Rivera to do it this weekend, when the Yankees finish their season with a three-game series at the Houston Astros. http://www.devilssale.com/authentic-mirco-mueller-devils-jersey/ . -- Jimmy Walkers first PGA Tour trophy came with a special gift tucked inside. New Jersey Devils Jerseys . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. Scott Stevens Jersey . The winner Saturday will remain in the elite 10-team field next year. "We talked about wanting to be disciplined and stick with our game plan and good things will come," Draisaitl said, who had two goals for the victors. ATLANTA -- Georgia Tech is starting over.Again.Once an Atlantic Coast Conference powerhouse and program that sent a steady stream of players to the NBA, the Yellow Jackets havent made the NCAA tournament since 2010 -- a streak that doesnt figure to end in Josh Pastners first season as coach.Even Pastner acknowledges that reality.Its going to take a couple of years, he said, but our mission goal is to get us back to a championship-level program year in and year out, so we have a chance to get back in the tournament, ACC championships and all those good things that go with it.Pastner left Memphis to take over the Yellow Jackets, who dumped coach Brian Gregory after five seasons produced just one postseason appearance (last years run to the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament) and a dismal 27-61 mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference.With his job on the line, Gregory relied heavily on seniors and one-and-done graduate transfers in his final season. That forces Pastner to rebuild the program essentially from scratch, having lost five players who accounted for nearly all the scoring and rebounding.In the loaded ACC, which looks to have several national championship contenders and up to 12 teams that could contend for NCAA berths, Georgia Tech is expected to bring up the rear along with Boston College and Wake Forest.It definitely gives us a chip on our shoulder and some motivation, senior guard Josh Heath said.Pastner is known as a top-notch recruiter, but it wont be easy to persuade the type of prospects that Georgia Tech needs to compete in the ACC. The program has been down for so long -- first declining under Paul Hewitt, and then completely falling off the radar during Gregorys forgettable tenure -- that its going to take quite a selling job for the latest coach to turn things around.Since making it all the way to the national championship game in 2004, the Yellow Jackets have failed to post a winning record in the ACC or advance past the second round in three NCAA tournament appearances.---Some other things to watch for in Pastners debut season:HUGE LOSSES: The Yellow Jackkets must replace their top four scorers from last season -- G Marcus Georges-Hunt (16.dddddddddddd.7 ppg), G Adam Smith (15.0), F Nick Jacobs (10.5) and F Charles Mitchell (10.1). Thats not all. Mitchell was the leading rebounder (9.7 rpg), followed by Jacobs (5.8) and another departed player, F James White (4.4).LOOKING FOR POINTS: Senior F Quinton Stephens, who made 14 starts, is the top returning scorer at 6.0 points per game. Hell need to do more, along with Heath (4.3) and junior G Tadric Jackson (5.4). Pastner will also be counting on players such as 6-10 center Ben Lammers to step up at the offensive end. He shot 65.5 percent from the field in limited minutes.NEWCOMERS: Kellen McCormick and Jodan Price are graduate transfers wholl get a chance to bolster Georgia Techs outside shooting. McCormick hit 42 percent from 3-point range over three seasons at Western Michigan, while Price averaged 4.2 points last season at Eastern Michigan. Pastner needs them both connecting at better than 40 percent beyond the arc.THINKING LONG TERM: Knowing that his team will likely struggle for wins, Pastners major goal this season will be installing a system that begins to win back fans and win over recruits. A fast-paced style of play would be a big step in that direction, especially after Gregorys teams often bogged down in a stilted, half-court offensive game.SCHEDULING MATTERS: After five straight home games to start the season, beginning with the Nov. 11 opener against Tennessee Tech, the Yellow Jackets go on the road to face Penn State, Tennessee and VCU. That stretch of games will give Pastner the first true indication of what hes up against before the ACC schedule kicks off Dec. 31 with a home game against North Carolina, followed by a trip to Duke four days later.---Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul-newberry .---AP College Basketball website: http://collegebasketball.ap.org ' ' '