At just the right moment, Mallory Swanson yelled at teammate Sophia Smith not to go near the ball as it came through.

Swanson knew Smith was offside. But Swanson wasn’t.

“I was like, `Don’t touch it! Leave it, leave it leave it!’” Swanson said. “And then it was on me to put it away.”

With that 57th-minute goal, the U.S. women’s soccer team won its fifth Olympic gold medal by beating Brazil 1-0 in the tournament final Saturday at the Paris Games.

The Americans, who hadn’t won gold since the 2012 London Olympics, closed out an undefeated run to the title in their first international campaign under new coach Emma Hayes.

Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher preserved the win with a one-handed save on Adriana’s header in stoppage time at Parc des Princes. At the final whistle, the U.S. players celebrated as Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” played in the stadium.

The result is more heartbreak for Brazil and its iconic star, Marta. The six-time world player of the year has never won a Women’s World Cup or an Olympics. This is expected to be her last major international tournament.

It was the third victory for the United States over Brazil in an Olympic final. The Americans also beat the Brazilians in 2004 at Athens and four years later in Beijing.

U.S. sweeps 4x400s, wins 34 track medals

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Gabby Thomas teamed up for America’s 14th gold and 34th overall medal at the track Saturday, wrapping up the Olympic action at the Stade de France with a 4.23-second runaway in the women’s 4x400 relay.

The gold medalists in the 400 hurdles and 200 meters took care of legs two and three for the United States, handing a 30-meter lead to Alexis Holmes, who didn’t lose any ground.

McLaughlin-Levrone, who owns the world’s fourth-fastest time in the 400 to go with her latest world record in hurdles, ran her leg in 47.71. That was .91 seconds faster than the next fastest woman in the field, Femke Bol, who took the Netherlands to silver.

The U.S. finished in 3 minutes, 15.27 seconds, only .1 short of the world record set by the Soviet Union in 1988.

The 34 track medals were the most for the U.S. at a non-boycotted Games since the early 20th century, when there were more events and fewer countries. The 14 golds are the most in a non-boycotted Olympics since Bob Beamon, Tommie Smith and John Carlos led the U.S. to 15 wins in 1968.

Moments before the women’s race, there was more tension involving the men. Rai Benjamin, the 400 hurdles gold medalist, held off 200 champion Letsile Tebogo to give the United States a .1-second win over Botswana — the final thriller in a nine-day meet full of them.

Gold puts Ko into LPGA Hall of Fame

One gold short of the Olympic medal collection, one win away from the LPGA Hall of Fame, Lydia Ko pondered what it would be like to knock out both at the same time and said when she arrived, “It would be a hell of a way to do it.”

What the 27-year-old Kiwi didn’t share was her decision that the Paris Games would be her last Olympics. The goal Saturday in the women’s golf competition was never more clear.

“I knew the next 18 holes were going to be some of the most important 18 holes of my life,” Ko said. “I knew being in this position was once in a lifetime.”

She delivered a dream finish at Le Golf National with a 1-under 71 for a two-shot victory. The win pushed her career total to 27 points for the LPGA Hall of Fame, one of the strictest criteria for any shrine.

This final chapter featured Ko building a five-shot lead, watching it cut to one over the final hour and then delivering a steady diet of pars until she made a 7-foot birdie putt at the end to finish at 10-under 278.

Briefly

track and field >> In a speedy men’s 800, Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi beat Canada’s Marco Arop by .01 seconds in a photo finish, finishing in 1:41.19, only .28 off the world record. American Bryce Hoppel’s national record of 1:41.67 was only good for fourth.