U.S. U-16 Girls National Team falls to Spain 2-1 in UEFA Development Tournament

BURTON UPON TRENT, England – The U.S. Under-16 Girls’ National Team fell to Spain, 2-1, to open the UEFA Development Tournament being played at St. George’s Park, England’s National Training Center.

The USA will also face England on Feb. 21 and finish tournament play vs. Denmark on Feb. 24.

These are the first matches of the year for the U-16 GNT, and tournament rules dictate that each player on the roster is required to play at least 90 minutes over the three matches.

In the match, Spain scored early as Julia Bartel collected a loose ball just outside the penalty box and launched a rocket to the upper left corner to give her country a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute.

Spain doubled its lead in the 39^th minute after the ball bounced off a few players inside the penalty area after a Spain corner kick and it rolled to Lucia Moral who was outside the box on the left side. She crossed it back into the middle, and Siliva Lloris headed the ball down into the right corner of goal.

The USA pulled a goal back in the 86^th minute when forward Tyler Isgrig crossed into the box from the left side and forward Lumi Kostmayer headed it towards goal. The shot deflected off the crossbar and fell to midfielder Ally Lemos, who took a few touches inside the box and finished on the ground into the lower right corner from just outside the six-yard box.

The evenly played match saw the USA out-shot Spain 10-9, but the Americans could not create an equalizer in the dying minutes.

Spain is a rising power in Europe, having won the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Uruguay and finishing second at the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in France.

U-16 GIRLS’ NATIONAL TEAM MATCH REPORT

Match: United States U-16 Girl’s National Team vs. Spain U-16 Girl’s National Team

Date: February 19, 2020
Competition: UEFA Development Tournament
Venue: Pitch #5 – St. George’s Park; Burton upon Trent, England
Weather: 41 degrees, cloudy, raining

Scoring Summary:   1          2          F         
USA                            0          1          1
ESP                             2          0          2

ESP – Julia Bartel                                          9^th minute
ESP – Silvia Lloris (Lucia Moral)                    39
USA – Ally Lemos                                          86

LINEUPS:

USA: 12-Nona Reason; 24-Gisele Thompson (7-Sydney Cheesman, 62); 9-Tessa Dellarose; 4-Maggie Taitano; 11-Elise Evans (Capt.); 13-Jill Flammia (4-Maggie Cagle, 46); 15-Sofia Cook (14-Peyton Marcisz, 71); 19-Yuna McCormack (17-Ally Lemos, 71); 26-Ava Uribe (21-Allison Montoya, 62); 10-Kat Rader (8-Tyler Isgrig, 71); 5-Mia Minestrella (6-Lumi Kostmayer, 46).

Subs not used: 1-Mackenzie Gress, 2-Taylor Bloom
Head Coach: Katie Schoepfer

ESP: 1-Meritxell Font, 2-Martina Fernandez (20-Irene Miguelez, 74), 4-Alicia de la Cuerda (3-Estela Carbonell, 84), 5-Amaia Martinez, 6-Maite Zubieta (15-Marina Artero, 84), 7-Ornella Vignola, 8-Silvia Lloris (Capt.) (16-Marta Gomez-Calcerrada, 74), 10-Julia Bartel (17-Marina Rivas, 62), 11-Fiamma Benitez (9-Jone Amezaga, 46), 12-Esther Laborde (18-Ainhoa Estevez, 84), 14-Lucia Moral (19-Andrea Medina, 46)

Subs not used: 13-Jimena Vicario
Head Coach: Eugenio Gonzalo

Stats Summary: USA / ESP                        
Shots: 10 / 9
Shots on Goal: 8 / 6
Saves: 4 / 7
Corner Kicks: 3 / 3
Fouls: 10 / 8
Offside: 3 / 1

Misconduct Summary:
None

Officials:
Referee: Chloe-Ann Anderson
Assistant Referee 1: Georgia Lyons
Assistant Referee 2: Hannah Gardner
Fourth Official: Emily Carney