PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Shannon Boxx has gone from a decent pro player with an uncertain future to a key member of the U.S. team. Cat Reddick has moved from college standout to a likely starter for the rest of the World Cup.

“Wow!” Reddick said with a chuckle Monday after a brisk practice.

“Never would have imagined this,” Boxx added.

Reddick and Boxx come from different backgrounds, but both could play critical roles as the United States tries to defend the title it won in 1999.

Boxx started at midfield in a 3-1 victory over Sweden on Sunday. The way coach April Heinrichs has raved about her, Boxx will be very difficult to remove from the lineup – particularly if she keeps scoring.

She is the first American woman to score in each of her first three internationals, all this month. Her header off Mia Hamm’s corner kick cemented the victory over the Swedes.

“Shannon continues to impress in her own unique way,” Heinrichs said. “She is a 26-year-old professional. It takes a lot of maturity to respond to being a World Cup-level soccer player. She has shown it.”

Heinrichs laughed before mentioning how Boxx pretty much shoved U.S. co-captain Julie Foudy out of the way as the World Cup rookie established her spot in front of the net on her goal. Foudy has more world championships (four) on her resume than Boxx has games for the U.S. team.

“Deferring to them?” Heinrichs said. “All that does is hold you back, and she’s not.”

Boxx was a freshman when she helped Notre Dame win the 1995 NCAA title. After graduating, she played six months in Germany before the WUSA got started.

For Boxx, the league that ceased operations last week was a blessing to her career.

Boxx, whose sister Gillian won a gold medal with the U.S. softball team in the 1996 Olympics, played decently for the San Diego Spirit, but was no standout. When she was traded to the New York Power this year, her career took off and she made the WUSA All-Star team.

Heinrichs noticed and invited Boxx to try out for the World Cup squad. Making it seemed a long shot, but few players have impressed the coach more.

And starting?

“I went into the game very confident. My sister said it looked like I shot out there like a bullet,” Boxx said. “I hit a wall for a few seconds later on, and then got my second wind.”

Her goal gave the United States the comfort margin it needed.

“Every game in the World Cup you need to win,” she said. “In the middle of that game, the emotional part hit me more and I realized how badly we needed to win. In the WUSA, you can lose focus for a time and still come back. Here, you can’t.”

Reddick was focusing on her supporting role when veteran defender Brandi Chastain, the heroine of the 1999 championship, broke a bone in her right foot. At halftime, in came the bubbly 21-year-old (youngest on the team), with a lot of support from Chastain.

“I told her I felt she deserved to be here, and I am proud to be her teammate,” Chastain said.

Reddick immediately became a physical presence, challenging Sweden’s forwards with abandon. Although she was too conservative in guarding Swedish star Hanna Ljungberg just before Ljungberg’s long pass set up her nation’s only goal, Reddick otherwise earned high marks from the coaching staff.

“Pretty quickly after (entering the game), the nerves were gone,” Reddick said, her eyes growing wide. “You definitely try not to doubt yourself. If your confidence is down you can’t perform the way you want to. On a team like this, you must have your confidence high to keep to the standard of the team.”

That standard was somewhat intimidating for Reddick when she first was called up by Heinrichs in 2001 at age 19. On the way to the airport, she was in tears, fearful she wouldn’t fit in.

Now, the one-time Alabama debutante figures to remain a starter. As the former Birmingham Belle might say:

“Wow!’