CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - Nicole Barnhart made a diving save on Brittany Timko's penalty kick to give the United States a 6-5 shootout victory over Canada on Saturday night in the CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying final.

The United States won the shootout after the teams finished regulation play tied 0-0, and 30 extra minutes tied 1-1.

Barnhart stopped Timko after Heather O'Reilly gave the United States the lead. Carli Lloyd, Leslie Osborne, Abby Wambach, Angela Hucles and Christie Rampone also scored for the Americans in the tiebreaker. Kara Lang, Rhian Wilkinson, Christine Sinclair and Melissa Tancredi and Clare Rustad scored for Canada in the shootout.

Lloyd opened the scoring for the United States on a free kick in the 110th minute, but Tancredi continued her exceptional play of late when she tied it on a header off a Rhian Wilkinson corner kick in the 118th minute.

It was the Hamilton striker's fourth goal in as many games.

''I think that was a very impressive comeback for the girls,'' Canadian head coach Even Pellerud said of Tancredi's goal. ''They did very well and showed great team morale at that time.''

Both teams, already in the Beijing field after their semifinal victories Wednesday, had good chances late in regulation.

Lang had a wide-open shot for Canada in the 86th minute, but fired wide left. In the 90th minute, Lloyd blasted a 35-yard shot off the crossbar, with the ball coming off too hard for Wambach to control the rebound.

Erin McLeod, who didn't allow a goal in regulation throughout the tournament, made several fine saves, especially in the second half. Canada set tournament a record with 508 shutout minutes.

''It was a hard fought game,'' said Pellerud. ''There weren't too many goal chances for either team in the first half but it was very high-level soccer. Very competitive.''

Pellerud singled out American forward Wombach as a headache for his squad as the game wore on.

''The second half (the U.S.) put Abby Wombach up front and she made them stronger. They created more problems for us, coming down on the flank and crossing into the box. With her size and her head skills we were challenged in the back.''

Pellerud said there are things to iron out before Beijing, but added he's very happy with his team's performance at the tournament.

''Of course there are things to work on,'' he said. ''We need to work more on our middle shape and more on our back four shape. But overall we did very well considering (allowing) just one goal in the whole tournament.

''I'm very pleased with my team's performance. it was one of the highlights in my years here.''

In the third-place game, Mexico beat Costa Rica 1-0. On Wednesday, the United States beat Costa Rica 3-0, and Canada edged Mexico 1-0.