CASARES, Spain — With the help of a hole-in-one, a hole-out from the fairway and a chip-in, Europe rallied against the United States after being swept in the opening foursome matches at the Solheim Cup, winning two of the afternoon fourball matches to reduce the Americans’ lead to 5-3 on Friday.

Emily Pedersen made a hole-in-one on the par-3 12th to ignite the Europeans’ comeback after the U.S. had its best-ever start, then Gemma Dryburgh holed out from the fairway on the 16th and Leona Maguire chipped in from off the green on the 18th to make it close again for Europe at Finca Cortesin in southern Spain.

The Europeans also got a boost from home-crowd favorite Carlota Ciganda, the only Spaniard in the team. After sitting out the morning session, Ciganda made six birdies in a 4 and 2 win with Linn Grant against Ally Ewing and Angel Yin.

Maguire’s chip-in helped lead to a 1-up win with Georgia Hall against Lexi Thompson and Lilia Vu. Dryburgh’s hole-out came in a tie with Madelene Sagstrom against Megan Khang and rookie sensation Rose Zhang.

The Americans, who are trying to avoid losing three Solheim Cups in a row to Europe for the first time, had dominated in the opening session to take a 4-0 lead. The previous best start for the U.S. had been 3½-½ in Wales in 1996.