Carli Lloyd helping to make her championship dream come true

Carli Lloyd will be the first to tell you that she is living a dream.

As a 16-year-old soccer enthusiast and player 16 years ago, the Delran, New Jersey, native went to Giants Stadium to watch her heroes, the U.S. women's national team, play in the World Cup.

She was not disappointed as the Americans and Mia Hamm recorded a 3-1 win over Denmark. The USA went on to win the World Cup in 1999.

"I was a young girl at the time watching, thinking to myself it would be a dream come true to be a part of this," she said. "It's truly an honor. Winning a World Cup would absolutely be a dream come true."

Lloyd and company are a win away from making that dream come true after she scored the game-winning goal off a penalty kick and set up the insurance goal by Kelley O'Hara in the USA's 2-0 win over top-ranked Germany at Olympic Stadium last night.

Performing heroics in knockout rounds certainly isn't anything new to the 32-year-old Lloyd. She is the only player on the planet who has scored the winning goal in two consecutive Olympic soccer gold-medal matches, in 2008 and 2012.

She even took notice of the partisan crowd.

"The fan support has been unbelievable," Lloyd said.

The same can be said of Lloyd, who converted a penalty kick in the win over Colombia in the Round of 16 and the lone goal in the quarterfinal victory over China.

A center midfielder by trade, Lloyd lined up as withdrawn center forward behind Alex Morgan Tuesday night. Needless to say, she relished the role forcing the issue on the left side.

"It was great," she said. "I'm going to work my tail off. I came here to win this thing, not to be a participant in a World Cup."