Photo by Staff Photographer Sean Hiller

This wasn’t a game. It was an occasion.

The gold medal-winning U.S. women’s Olympic team duly beat Australia Sunday afternoon in Carson – although they had to come from behind to do it and could have been down by four goals, not one – but really the result was secondary to the event itself.

And a joyous, if hot, day it was, too, with a crowd full of moms and kids happy just to be at Home Depot Center with no pressure or expectations.

Which is also paradoxically the bane of the women’s game, a theme I will explore further in Tuesday’s column.

For now, check out the game story from Staff Writer Phil Collin and a gallery from Staff Photographer Sean Hiller here.