It’s an Olympic year for the U.S. women’s soccer team.

And in CONCACAF qualifying for the Olympics, it’s a purposeful run for the Americans as they destroyed their pool-play opposition by a combined score of 31-0.

The United States women’s Olympic program has had, historically, a better record than the national team at FIFA World Cups. The Hammers have never failed to make it to the gold-medal match in every Olympics that women’s soccer is part of the competition program, winning three golds and a silver since the inaugural women’s soccer tournament in 1996.

I’m not sure why; the ball and pitch are the same size, the pool of game officials is roughly the same, and the field of teams is about as diverse (albeit smaller, given the fact that a champion is crowned in less than three weeks).

But what could be spurring the U.S. team is the shock penalty-kick loss to Japan in last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup. It’s a game which looked for all the world like an American victory for long stretches, but there were numerous wasted chances.

This time around, however, those chances are going in. Last night, Carly Lloyd, who couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn last summer, had the hat trick against Mexico. Sydney Leroux and Amy Rodriguez had five goals each in earlier games in this tournament.

But as was the case four years ago in Beijing, the Americans look to go into battle without a major contributor. Ali Krieger tore two ligaments in her knee in the opening match against the Dominican Republic, which opens up questions about the U.S. wing defense.

Of course, Friday night is the tipping-point match. The winner of the U.S.-Costa Rica game goes to London. The loser gets four years to reflect and wonder about what they did wrong.