NEWCASTLE, England – As the stakes rise, the U.S. women's soccer team continues to have fun, and its celebration rubbed an opponent the wrong way during an Olympics in which sportsmanship has been scrutinized.

During a quarterfinal vs. New Zealand, Alex Morgan's pass found Abby Wambach's waiting foot for a first-half goal, the first in a 2-0 victory that sent the Americans to the semifinals. Players celebrated by doing cartwheels facing the fans at St. James' Park and finished by imitating poses struck by the gold-medal-winning American female gymnasts.

It was the second planned team celebration for U.S. soccer in London. In a win against North Korea, nine players joined hands and did the "worm."

New Zealand coach Tony Readings said his team wouldn't stage something like that.

"We wouldn't do it," he said. "When teams concede (a goal), they're disappointed, and they want to get on with the game. We wouldn't do it, but it's obviously something that Americans do. We've seen them do it a few times in this tournament. We can't let it affect us. We just get on with the game.

"It's something I guess they work on in training. We try to work on scoring goals and stopping Wambach and Morgan. We haven't got time to work on celebrations in training. If it makes them happy and they win games, then good on them."

American coach Pia Sundhage said she saw nothing wrong with her players enjoying themselves.

Said U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo: "That's silly of him. He doesn't know how to have fun. I feel sorry for him."

Solo didn't participate in the fun at the other end of the field, but she doesn't see anything wrong with it. Players said they were inspired by Gabby Douglas' gold-medal-winning all-around performance, which they watched together at the team hotel Thursday.

"We wanted to send a shout-out to all the gymnastics girls who won," Wambach said. "It was really cool to watch."

Are the Americans worried about rubbing their opponents the wrong way?

"I mean, not with a cartwheel," U.S. midfielder Carli Lloyd said. "We're not ripping shirts off or ripping shorts off. We're keeping it G-rated and just having some fun with it."