Megan Rapinoe scored twice from the penalty spot and the United States overcame a costly mistake and a strong performance from Spain in a 2-1 win to advance to the World Cup quarterfinals.
Team USA will face host France on Friday at 3 p.m. ET at Parc des Princes in Paris.
Rapinoe gave the U.S. another early lead with a penalty kick in the 7th minute after Tobin Heath was taken down in the box with a hard foul.
But two minutes later a pass to Alyssa Naeher to Becky Sauerbrunn in traffic was dispossessed by Jennifer Hermoso, who leveled the score with a quick curling effort to beat Naeher and end a scoreless streak for the Stars and Stripes that had stretched to 646 minutes.