U.S. U-17 WNT Rounds out Group A against Costa Rica

 

March 14, 2010

© CONCACAF

 

IN THE IMAGE: The U.S. faces Costa Rica for the top spot in Group A

U.S. Under-17 Women’s National Team
2010 CONCACAF Under-17 Women’s Championship
Alajuela, Costa Rica
March 13, 2010

WITH BERTH TO SEMIFINAL SECURED, U.S. TAKES ON HOSTS FOR GROUP TITLE: After two dominating victories against weaker opposition, the U.S. Under-17 Women’s National Team will now face Costa Rica on Sunday, March 14, with first place in Group A on the line. Like the USA, Costa Rica also shut-out the Cayman Islands (7-0) and Haiti (2-0), giving both teams six points from two matches. Costa Rica needs to win to take the top spot in the group while the USA, which has a vastly superior goal difference, needs a tie or a win. The USA-Costa Rica match can be seen live on CONCACAF.com at 9:30 p.m. ET and on a delayed basis on Fox Soccer Channel on Monday, March 15 at 3 p.m. ET. Fans can also follow the game live on ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker. Both semifinal matches will also be broadcast tape-delayed on Fox Soccer Channel, but it has not yet been determined if the USA will be playing in the first semifinal on the night or the second. CONCACAF will confirm the schedule when the semifinal pairings are set. For a complete schedule, results and other information on the tournament and the U.S. U-17s, go to the CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championship page on ussoccer.com.

SEMIFINAL OPPONENT?: The USA will have to wait until the evening of March 15 to find out their semifinal opponent as Canada and Mexico meet that night at 9:30 p.m. ET to likely determine first and second place in Group B. Both Mexico and Canada won their first group games handily (over Panama and Jamaica, respectively) and will flip-flop opponents today as the Tricolores take on the Reggae Girlz and the Maple Leafs face Panama. Should Mexico and Canada both win today, that sets up the epic match on Monday to see who faces the USA and who faces Costa Rica, which like the USA, has already clinched a berth in a semifinal.

WATCH ALL THE U-17 WNT QUALIFYING GAMES LIVE ON CONCACAF.COM: U.S. Soccer fans can watch all the U.S. Under-17 WNT games during the CONCACAF Women's Under-17 Championship in Costa Rica live via streaming video at CONCACAF.com. All of the matches at the CONCACAF U-20 Women’s Championships last January from Guatemala were also streamed live to very positive reviews, so this will be the second time a continental confederation has offered free comprehensive live coverage of a youth tournament online. The service is free with fans simply required to register on the site. All 16 games will be available live at CONCACAF.com's video portal, CONCACAF TV, and will also be viewable on-demand at the same location shortly after the conclusion of each match. You can also watch highlights of all the matches not long after the end of the games.

USA U-17 WNT ON FOX SOCCER CHANNEL: In addition to CONCACAF’s extensive online coverage of the tournament, the next two U.S. matches will be shown on Fox Soccer Channel. The championship game will be broadcast as well, meaning if the USA makes it to the title game, the final three U-17 matches from this tournament will be FSC. The USA-Costa Rica clash on March 14 will air the following day (March 15) at 3 p.m. ET and FSC will be showing both semifinals tape-delayed on March 18 at 8 p.m. ET and 11 p.m. ET.

2010 CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championship Group A Schedule

Date	Match	Time (ET)	TV	Venue
March 10	United States 9, Haiti 0	6 p.m.	CONCACAF.com	Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto; Alajuela, Costa Rica
March 10	Costa Rica 7, Cayman Islands 0	8:30 p.m.	CONCACAF.com	Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto; Alajuela, Costa Rica
March 12	United States 13, Cayman Islands 0	6 p.m.	FSC, CONCACAF.com	Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto; Alajuela, Costa Rica
March 12	Costa Rica 2, Haiti 0	8:30 p.m.	CONCACAF.com	Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto; Alajuela, Costa Rica
March 14	Cayman Islands vs. Haiti	7 p.m.	CONCACAF.com	Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto; Alajuela, Costa Rica
March 14	Costa Rica vs. United States	9:30 p.m.	FSC, CONCACAF.com	Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto; Alajuela, Costa Rica

2010 CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championship Semifinals Schedule

Date	Match	Time (ET)	TV	Venue
March 18	USA/CRC vs. TBD	8 p.m.	FSC, CONCACAF.com	Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto; Alajuela, Costa Rica
March 10	USA/CRC vs. TBD	11 p.m.	FSC, CONCACAF.com	Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto; Alajuela, Costa Rica

2010 CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championship Group A Standings

Team	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts.
USA	2	0	0	22	0	+22	6
CRC	2	0	0	9	0	+9	6
HAI	0	2	0	0	11	-11	0
CAY	0	2	0	0	20	-20	0

U.S. Under-17 Women’s National Team Roster By Position
GOALKEEPERS (3): 1-Bryane Heaberlin (Clearwater Chargers; St. Petersburg, Fla.), 18-Abby Smith (Dallas Texans; Dallas, Texas), 24-Caroline Stanley (KCFC Alliance; Kansas City, Mo.)
DEFENDERS (5): 6-Olivia Brannon (Michigan Jags; Troy, Mich.), 3-Abby Dahlkemper (MVLA Avalanche; Menlo Park, Calif.), 2-Jaelene Hinkle (Real Colorado; Denver, Colo.), 4-Laura Liedle (San Diego Surf; San Diego, Calif.), 16-Cari Roccaro (Albertson Fury; East Islip, N.Y.)
MIDFIELDERS (7): 10-Morgan Brian (Ponte Vedra Storm; St. Simons Island, Ga.), 8-Kaysie Clark (KC Select Scream; Liberty, Mo.), 7-Alex Doll (Bethesda SC; Bethesda, Md.), 15-Isabel Farrell (Crossfire; Bellevue, Wash.), 14-Cassie Pecht (Baltimore Bays; Mechanicsburg, Pa.), 5-Kaili Torres (Ponte Vedra Storm; Orange Park, Fla.), 11-Clarissa Wedemeyer (Dallas Texans; Colleyville, Texas)
FORWARDS (5): 19-Jennifer Gonzalez (Arsenal FC; Alta Loma, Calif.), 13-Lindsey Horan (Colorado Rush; Golden, Colo.), 9-Havana Solaun (KYX Kicks Elite; Gainesville, Fla.), 12-Taylor Smith (Solar Red; Ft. Worth, Texas), 25-Ashley Spivey (Baltimore Soccer Bays; Baltimore, Md.)

U.S. U-17 WNT Quick Hits

• Lindsey Horan’s six goals in the tournament tie a record for most goals by a U.S. player in a CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championship. Courtney Verloo scored six times in the inaugural U-17 championship two years ago.
• Every U.S. field player has seen action during first two games, but just three have played all 180 minutes: defenders Abby Dalhkemper and Jaelene Hinkle and midfielder Clarissa Wedemeyer
• The USA played Costa Rica twice in the 2008 CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championship, winning 6-0 in the opening game of the tournament before meeting once again in the final, a 4-1 U.S. victory.
• Haiti came close to earning a draw with Costa Rica in what would have been a monumental result, but game up goals in the 58th and 74th minutes and were eliminated from semifinal contention.
• Amazingly, the USA’s 22 goals to start the tournament were not the most scored by a U.S. youth women’s team in the first two games of a qualifying competition. In 2004, the U.S. U-19s scored 25 against the Dominican Republic and T&T, but that team ended up losing in the championship game to Canada.
• Nine different players have scored the USA’s 22 goals so far.
• U.S. goalkeeper Bryane Heaberlin did not dress last match, giving way to Abby Smith who started and Caroline Stanley who backed her up, but the St. Petersburg, Fla., product will likely be back in the nets against Costa Rica.
• Midfielder Morgan Brian needs one more goal to tie Courtney Verloo as the top international goal scorer in the (rather short) history of U.S. Under-17 Women’s National Team. Verloo scored 12 international goals over 2007 and 2008. Brian, who was the youngest player on the USA’s 2008 U-17 Women’s World Cup Team, scored one in 2008, five in 2009 and has five in 2010.
• Lindsey Horan, who has eight career U-17 goals, could conceivably pass Verloo in this tournament as well.

WHO WILL GO TO TRINIDAD & TOBAGO?: The 2010 CONCACAF Under-17 Women’s Championship is an eight-team tournament that will send just two nations to Trinidad & Tobago. Two years ago, CONCACAF sent three countries to New Zealand, but because this time around a CONCACAF country is hosting the Women’s World Cup and thus gets an automatic berth, only two spots are available through this tournament. The 16-game competition will consist of two groups of four teams each with the top two finishers after group play advancing to the semifinals. The group winners will play the runners-up from the opposite group on March 18, with the championship and third-place matches set for March 20. Both semifinal matches and the tournament final will be televised on a delayed basis by Fox Soccer Channel and all matches will be streamed live at CONCACAF.com.

MARQUEE MATCH FOR COSTA RICA: The Costa Rican U-17 Women’s National Team have been playing to much larger crowds than the other matches for obvious reasons, and the USA-Costa Rica clash on a Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. local (9:30 p.m. ET) will likely be the most electric match of the tournament so far. With both teams through to the semifinals, the pressure of advancement is off. But for Costa Rica, the chance to play the United States in front of vocal home crowd will be big deal, and for the USA, the chance to win the group against a quality opponent is also an opportunity they are looking forward to. Costa Rica defeated the Cayman Islands, 7-0, as Raquel Rodriguez Cedeño, who helped Costa Rica’s U-20 team qualify for the Women’s World Cup in January, scored three times and Maria Fernanda Moreira scored twice. Costa Rica was up just 2-0 at halftime, but scored five times in the second half. Four of Costa Rica’s goals came off set plays, which means the Americans will have to be extra concisious of defending free kciks. Costa Rica struggled a bit more with Haiti, going into halftime tied, 0-0, but second-half substitute Alhyssa Villalta broke the deadlock in the 58th minute and Moreira added another for the final score line. Costa Rica did not have to qualify for this competition, getting the automatic berth as hosts.

Costa Rica U-17 WNT Roster
1-Fabiola Murillo, 2-Noelle Sanz, 3-Krista Chavarria, 4-Pamela Leon, 5-Fabiola Sanchez, 6-Karolina Duran, 7- Melissa Quesada, 8-Pamela Gorgona, 9-Angelica Fallas, 10-Maria Alejandra Guevara, 11-Raquel Rodriguez Cedeño, 12-Maria Jose Gamboa, 14-Alhyssa Villalta, 15-Maria Brenes, 16-Mariana Poveda,17-Ana Cristina Lopez, 18- Maria Jose Rodriguez, 19-Maria Fernanda Moreira, 20-Jazmin Elizondo, 23-Mariela Vasquez
Head coach: Randall Chacon

BLOGWORK: You can catch up with the U.S. U-17 WNT in Costa Rica through the U.S. YNT Blog, see some pictures from training and find out about all the exciting things the team is doing…like homework.

LITTLE DRUMMER GIRL: U.S. Under-17 midfielder Alex Doll has an interesting hobby. It involves sticks and lots of loud noise. Read about Doll’s extra-curricular activities at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in this special feature on ussoccer.com.

FUENTE Y FOTO : USSOCCER.COM