Exactly five weeks after lifting her second World Cup, Carli Lloyd shot wide.

Inside the 36th minute at Red Bull Arena, the two-time FIFA Player of the Year went on a swashbuckling run toward the goal, weaving and cutting her way through the defense before an eventual miss. But her shanked attempt mattered less than the booming gasps that filled the stadium after.

In the afterglow of the World Cup, women’s soccer is riding a boon of momentum in the United States. And Lloyd can see the difference.

“I think we saw this in 2015 as well,” Lloyd told The Post after Sky Blue’s 1-1 draw with Reign FC. “The biggest challenge is how are we going to sustain that when next year there’s the Olympics, and the year after that when there’s nothing.”

Inside a stadium still littered with Red Bulls decor, fans of women’s soccer made a statement that their sport is not to be scoffed at. A record-breaking Sky Blue crowd of 9,415 people — youth soccer players and adults alike — filled the stands and gave a glimpse of the sport’s potential if and when it’s given serious investment.

While Sky Blue’s “Cloud Nine” supporter section bounced and sang for 90 minutes, the match was a treat for the players, too. Sky Blue normally plays at Rutgers’ 5,000-person Yurcak Field, while the Reign play at a converted minor league baseball stadium in Tacoma, Wash.

Many of the fans had undoubtedly shown up to see Seattle’s Megan Rapinoe, one of the stars of the World Cup team, but she sat out with a left Achillies injury.

“Playing at Red Bull Arena allows us to feel like a professional athlete,” said Reign midfielder Allie Long, who was also part of the World Cup-winning squad this summer. “When you’re at Yurcak, when you’re at Rutgers, you feel like you’re in college again.

“Everything about this is a professional environment.”

It’s obvious there’s a market for the league, which is sponsored by Budweiser and televised across ESPN platforms.

However, the NWSL is seemingly functioning in spite of a number of roadblocks in its way. Lloyd and Long spoke of a need to increase awareness of the women’s game, which is frequently under-marketed and under-funded despite the public’s apparent appetite for it.

Long put the microscope on Sunday’s match.

“Was there a commercial that said we’re playing on [ESPNNews]?” Long asked reporters. “Was there an ad in a newspaper, radio station?”

“The word has to get out,” Lloyd said. “There’s so many people in this country that have no idea there’s a women’s professional league, and that’s a problem.”

The league is not failing. But it hasn’t yet been given a proper chance to succeed.

Sunday’s game marked the first ever Sky Blue game at Red Bull Arena — seven years after the NWSL was founded.

Still, it’s clear the NWSL has a cult following, with good reason. The competition is littered with U.S. national team players and international stars such as Australia’s Sam Kerr.

Moving Sunday’s match to Harrison was a litmus test for the state of women’s soccer in the U.S. It could have backfired, with a world-beater like Lloyd being forced to play in a dead-empty stadium.

Instead, fans continued to show their loyal support following the World Cup. Now it’s up to the league to create new fans.

“I feel like we as players have done everything we can,” Long said. “Won the World Cup back-to-back. If you’re not coming to games now … like what?”