ATHENS, Greece - One win from gold. One shutout from perfection.

Right now, the Americans aren't just a Dream Team - they're more like the Perfect Team..

The U.S. softball team, unbeaten, unscored upon and almost unbelievable, rolled to its eighth straight shutout Sunday, 5-0 over Australia, and into the gold medal game.

“We’re here for one thing,” pitcher Lisa Fernandez said, “and that’s to win a gold medal.”

To take their third straight Olympic title, the Americans will have to beat the Australians — the closest thing they have to an archrival — again.

After getting beat by the United States earlier on a simmering Sunday, Australia took cold showers, ate sandwiches, reapplied sun block and qualified for Monday’s championship game by beating Japan 3-0 behind Tanya Harding’s fourth shutout.

“We want another bite of the cherry,” coach Simon Roskvist said. “They’re tough, but so are we. We’re going to come right at them.”

Team USA: One win from history Previewing the gold-medal softball game USA Australia 9-0 Record 7-2 46 Runs scored 25 0 Runs allowed 19 .344 Team AVG .210 0.00 Team ERA 2.29 P Lisa Fernandez Top players P Tanya Harding 3B Crystl Bustos 3B Natalie Titcume SS Natasha Watley 1B Peta Edebone Team USA has it all (pitching, speed and power) and is one win away from cementing its status as one of the greatest teams in the history of sports. Analysis Hopes rest on the pitching arm of ace Harding, who owns two previous Olympic wins against the U.S. Defense is stellar (two errors in tourney). Must find a way score a run. MSNBC staff

Roskvist wouldn’t say whether he’ll start Harding, the only pitcher to beat the U.S. team twice in Olympic play. She hasn’t given up a run in 33 innings in this tournament.

U.S. coach Mike Candrea may counter with Fernandez again or he could use either Jennie Finch or Cat Osterman.

“Don’t know,” Candrea said when asked which way he’s leaning.

One thing is certain. The Americans have been conducting a one-team softball clinic in unrelenting sun and temperatures topping 90 degrees. It wasn’t supposed to be this easy, though.

Since the Sydney Games, the International Softball Federation moved the mound back from 40 feet to 43, and pushed the fences out from 200 feet to 220. In doing so, the thought was that pitchers wouldn’t be so dominant, and the open outfield spaces would lead to more scoring.

Really, only one thing has changed: The Americans. They’re better.

“This team has done a nice job in raising the bar,” Candrea said.

Fernandez, teasing the powerful Aussie hitters with a slower-than-slow changeup, pitched a three-hitter, Crystl Bustos drove in two runs and Natasha Watley had three more infield singles Sunday as the U.S. juggernaut thundered on.

The U.S. team played its most complete game in thumping its Olympic nemesis for the second time here. The Americans also downed the Aussies 10-0 in the prelims. Australia cut the deficit in half this time, but there was never really any doubt that the United States would stay undefeated.

It was simply a case of when, not if.

Kelly Kretschman homered as the U.S. team — winners of 78 straight — dominated again. The Olympic numbers they’ve piled up are absurd: a 46-0 run differential; 49 scoreless innings, a 0.00 ERA.

But according to Candrea, they haven’t played their best game.

“That one was pretty good,” he said. “But I’m still waiting.”

Playing the perfect game is about all that’s left for the U.S. squad to do.

In the first inning, Fernandez, who one-hit the Aussies in the opening round, had an illegal pitch called against her by first base umpire Leanna Pacini, who ruled the 33-year-old’s foot left the rubber before she delivered the ball.

That led to a five-minute delay with Fernandez first doing her own maintenance on the mound before a member of the grounds crew came out and dug out dirt.

If that one pitch was illegal, then some of the Fernandez’s offerings over the next few innings were flat out wrong. She tormented the Aussies with a knee-buckling change-up, floating the ball up to the plate and daring them to hit it.

“I felt like I had to try and keep them off balance,” Fernandez said. “They were going to make adjustments and I had to stay one step ahead.”

It was vintage Fernandez. Besides being perhaps the game’s best all-around player, she’s always looking for an edge — anything to make her better, anything to help her team come out on top.

She’s like Michael Jordan in a visor. But a much better hitter.

“She did her homework,” said Australian first baseman Peta Edebone. “Her changeup was great.”

Like the Americans, the 7-2 Aussies, who have two bronze medals already, came to these games intent on winning their first gold. And, like the Americans, they are just one win away from getting one.

“We’ve got nothing to lose,” Edebone said.

The U.S. team isn’t so fortunate.