U.S. U-16 Girls National Team defeats Belgium 1-0 on own goal

WOLUWE-SAINT-LAMBERT, Belgium (Via U.S. Soccer) – The U.S. Under-16 Girls’ National Team defeated its counterparts from Belgium, 1-0, in its second match at the Women’s U-16 Development Tournament.

The USA defeated Croatia 4-0 on May 12 and will finish the tournament on May 16 against Switzerland. Switzerland defeated Croatia 3-0 in the other match today.

In that final game against Switzerland, a win, or a tie through regulation will earn the USA the tournament title. The USA is currently sitting on six points while Belgium and Switzerland have three each and Croatia has zero.

In this competition, any match that ends in a tie through regulation will go to penalty kicks, but even a loss in penalties will earn the USA the one point it needs to win the tournament.

In a match that featured 40-minute halves, the USA out-shot the hosts 21-8 but could not find the net until one minute into second half stoppage time, and that came via an own goal from Belgium defender Frieke Temmerman.

The dramatic but unusual game-winner came after Trinity Rodman took the ball down the right wing, beat two defenders and drew the goalkeeper out of the net. At close range, she attempted to shoot as the ‘keeper fell, and Temmerman knocked the ball into her own net during an ill-fated attempt to clear.

This tournament is for players born in 2001 and 2002, so the Americans are playing against older teams as the U.S. roster features mostly players born in 2002 and 2003 and one born in 2004.

The tournament has some unique rules, all geared toward player development.

• Each player on the 20-player rosters must play a minimum of 80 minutes during the tournament, the equivalent of one full match.
• No player may play more than 120 minutes in a 48-hour period.
• Every player must start a match at least once.
• There will be no draws in the tournament. Any match that is tied at the end of regulation will go into penalties with the following points being awarded according to the outcomes:
  • 3 points – Win in Regulation
  • 2 points – Win after penalties
  • 1 point – Loss after penalties
  • 0 points – Loss in Regulation

New U-16 GNT head coach Kacey White is attending her first event with the team and is working with U.S. Under-18 Women’s National Team head coach Jaime Frias, who coached the U-16s over the past year before taking his new position.

This group of players moved up from the U-14 level last year and will spend two years as the U-16 GNT before moving on to the U-18s. These players are all age-eligible for the 2018 U-17 Women’s World Cup, which has an age cut-off of players born on or after January 1, 2001, but will eventually be the core age group for the team that will attempt to qualify for the U-20 Women’s World Cup in 2022.

– U.S. Under-16 Girls’ National Team Match Report –

Match: U.S. U-16 Girls’ National Team vs. Belgium U-16 GNT
Date: May 14, 2017
Competition: Women’s U-16 Development Tournament
Venue: Stade Fallon; Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Belgium
Weather: 65 degrees; partly cloudy

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

USA – Own Goal (Frieke Temmerman)         80+1 minute

Lineups:
USA: 1-Mia Justus (capt.), 2-Kayla Colbert, 3-Samar Guidry (5-Dasia Torbert, 41), 16-Katie Groff, 19-Devi Dudley (15-Smith Hunter, 55), 6-Aislyn Crowder (7-Isabel Loza, 41), 4-Michaela Rosenbaum (8-Josephine Aulicino, 55), 24-Jillian Shimkin (10-Trinity Rodman, 41), 14-Tatiana Fung (17-Samantha Kroeger, 41), 18-Michelle Cooper (11-Alexis Missimo, 55), 13-Joyelle Washington (9-Allyson Sentnor, 41)
Subs not used: 12-Stephanie Sparkowski
Head Coach: Jaime Frias

BEL: 1-Femke Bastiaen, 2-Sari Kees (capt), 3-Camps Romy (9-Stephanie Pirotte, 41), 5-Zenia Mertens (10-Esther Buabadi, 41), 6-Karlijn Knapen, 7-Inara Bouker (13-Valerie Schuilen), 8-Jenna Van de Keere (4-Aster Janssens, 41), 11-Lisa Petry, 15-Frieke Temmerman, 18-Tess Wils (20-Talitha De Groote, 41), 19-Fran Meersman (14-Constance Brackman, 41)
Subs not used: 12-Joséphine Delvaux, 16-Noa Corbeels, 17-Léa Cordier
Head Coach: Luc Bosmans

Stats Summary: USA / BEL
Shots: 21 / 8
Shots on Goal: 10 / 3
Saves: 3 / 9
Corner Kicks: 5 / 2
Fouls: 4 / 2
Offside: 8 / 0

Misconduct Summary:
None