BEIJING – The pass got to her foot and Carli Lloyd had one thought: Keep it low.

There was no time for the big picture: A chance to win Olympic gold, to take the most improbable of all the big titles in the U.S. women's soccer team's storied history.

Could this girl from Delran who used to have trouble running more than 15 minutes at a time – could Lloyd nail the game-winner?

"Never in my wildest dreams...." Lloyd said later, hands in her pockets, gold medal hanging from her neck.

Her left-footed 19-foot shot did, indeed, stay low, hopping once, skipping past a diving Brazilian goalkeeper in the 96th minute, six minutes into overtime -- the only goal in a game with precious few American chances.

When it was over, goalkeeper Hope Solo and Lloyd stood next to each other on the gold-medal podium chatting - reminiscing really - marveling at the whole saga.

"I was just floating out there ... Carli and I both came a long way," said Solo, who had taken care of all troublesome crosses and made the save of her life on a 71st-minute shot from Marta, regarded as the world's best player.

This was truly the next generation for American women's soccer. Icons Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy are long gone, retired after the last Olympics. Foudy was the sideline reporter for NBC. Nobody on the podium last night played for the U.S. when it won its first gold medal at the 1996 Olympics. Only central defenders Kate Markgraf and Christie Rampone were on the fabled 1999 World Cup champions.

"The '99 team was once-in-lifetime there," Lloyd said. "But this was kind of another once-in-a-lifetime thing."

The odds were against this group, which had been shellacked by Brazil in the semifinals of last year's World Cup. Then just before the Olympics, the U.S. lost its scoring star and forceful leader, Abby Wambach. She broke her leg in the team's last warm-up game – against Brazil.

Things got even worse once the Olympics began.

"I have to say, after the first game, I didn't know that the gold medal would be possible," Lloyd said.

In the first four minutes of the opener against Norway, the U.S. gave up two goals. Who could have predicted that the Americans would only give up two more goals the rest of the tournament? Both of those were in a 4-2 victory over Japan in the semifinals.

Lloyd's role as central midfielder deserves some perspective. Before the Olympics, she had talked about first starting to train five years ago in Medford with James Galanis, a former professional soccer player from Australia.

"I wasn't fit," Lloyd had said. "He turned me into a machine. It's funny looking back. Five years ago, I could never run long distances. He started out with a 15-minute run. I said, 'This is long.' I got up to a hour and a half."

Solo's play also goes in the sport's history books, and not just for her saves. Solo spoke her mind after being benched for last year's World Cup game with Brazil, saying she would have made the saves that Briana Scurry did not. Because of those remarks, the team, players and coach, had banished her. Solo wasn't allowed on the bench for the bronze-medal game and had to fly home on her own. Nobody on the team said much to her for the rest of the year.

Except for Lloyd.

Lloyd and Solo came up through youth national teams together. Lloyd said she hates drama. She'd eat with Solo, just the two of them. She'd ride with her on the bus. No sorority-girl stuff for her.

"I told her a number of times that she's by far the best goalkeeper in the world," Lloyd said of Solo.

There was more to Solo's story. Her father had died just before last year's World Cup. She had spread his ashes by her goal before games. Benching her for that Brazil game because Scurry had historical success against that country – the move backfired, but the changes that came from it led directly to the gold medal.

After the World Cup, coach Greg Ryan was replaced by Pia Sundhage, a Swede who had first worked professionally in the U.S. as an assistant with the Philadelphia Charge, part of the now-defunct WUSA.

Taking over the national team, Sundhage addressed the Solo situation, asking players two questions: Do you want to win? Do you need goalkeepers to win?

Sundhage lightened the mood and made tactical changes. She also added speed to the backline. That put Heather Mitts in the mix. Sundhage knew Mitts' speed from their year together with the Charge.

Mitts and Lloyd were only two of the players with Pennsylvania and New Jersey connections. Backup goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart is from Gilbertsville, Pa., Tobin Heath is from Basking Ridge, N.J., Heather O'Reilly is from East Brunswick, N.J., and Christie Rampone is from Point Pleasant, N.J.

Last night, Mitts and the other defenders had their hands full dealing with Marta, but the scoreboard stayed blank.

"She is so fast," Mitts said of Marta. "And if she goes by you, you're not going to catch her. So for us, we were trying to keep her outside more than anything."

For all her clever footwork, Marta had just the one great chance. She pushed the ball between Mitts and Markgraf, then cut around them. She got to the ball first, open now, and rifled it toward the net as Solo leaned to her left, trying to cover the biggest opening. But the shot went near-side. Leaning left, Solo had her right arm up and the ball slammed into it.

"I was getting ready to get up and celebrate," Brazil's coach Jorge Barcellos said of that save. "For sure, she really got into that ball very well. I think actually it had a certain move to the ball, right?"

Asked about a feeling of vindication, Solo said, "Vindicated? I don't even think about that. Whatever I said last year, I'm just enjoying this moment right now. I feel great. I just won a gold medal!"

"It's funny," Lloyd said much later, two hours after the game, after she'd been chosen for random drug testing after the medal ceremony. "This game, I had a different feeling. Usually, the nerves are going, (there's) anxiety right up until the whistle blows to start the game. Something felt different."

This time, the U.S. wasn't supposed to win. That was probably the different feeling. Later, it was replaced by a sensation Lloyd will never forget.

"It happened so fast," she said.