U.S. U-16 Girls National Team piles up 8 goals vs. Iran U-17s

RENČE, Slovenia (Via U.S. Soccer) – The U.S. Under-16 Girls’ National Team defeated the Iran U-17 WNT, 8-0, in its first Group A match at the 3^rd U-17 Women’s Torneo delle Nazioni.

Forward Kailyn Dudukovich bagged four goals, opening the scoring in the 8^th minute and notching a true hat trick with three consecutive goals from the 14^th through the 23^rd minutes, sandwiched around a score from Kalyssa Van Zanten in the 11^th minute. Midfielder Alexis Missimo added another first half goal and forwards Michelle Cooper and Trinity Byers tallied the USA’s second half scores.

The USA will face Italy (April 26 in Romans d’Isonzo, Italy) and Slovenia (April 28 in Bilje, Slovenia) to finish group play. Each team will play a placement match on April 29 with the two countries that win the two groups playing for the championship. The second-place finishers will play for third, the third-place finishers will play for fifth and the fourth-place finishers will play for seventh. The tournament features games with 35-minute halves during group play and 40-minute halves for the placement matches.

+READ: Girls Development Academy East Conference Recap | April 21-22, 2018

Italy defeated Slovenia, 2-0, in the other group A match while Group B action saw Norway defeat Russia, 4-1, and Japan down England, 2-1. The tournament is being staged at small venues in the northeast part of Italy and just across the border in western Slovenia, 10 of them in Italy and four in Slovenia.

The USA’s first goal came when Missimo received the ball in space from Cooper and made a run into the penalty box before cutting it back along the end line. She then played a pass into the middle where Dudukovich finished from two yards out.

Dudukovich created the second goal as her driven shot was saved by the goalkeeper, but the rebound fell to Van Zanten who finished from near the top of the penalty area into the empty net.

Dudukovich started her three-consecutive goal run after Cooper was the recipient in a passing combination with Kellie Pagadar. Cooper cut into the box and played the ball across to Dudukovich who finished into the right corner from six yards out.

Dudukovich added another in the 19^th minute after Missimo poked the ball forward to her and she finished with a hard shot into the top right corner.

Van Zanten returned the favor to Dudukovich 23^rd minute. This time Van Zanten found herself one-on-one with the ‘keeper after running onto a long through ball. Van Zanten’s shot was saved, but Dudukovich continued her run and buried the rebound into the empty net.

Missimo made it 6-0 in the 32^nd minute, finishing into the open net off a cross from Aislynn Crowder. The USA made it 7-0 in the 39^th minute as Cooper received a through ball from Crowder and carried it 20 yards into the penalty area before poking it past the onrushing ‘keeper.

The final goal came in the 58^th minute off a through ball from Ariella Pitty to Byars, who got behind the defense, rounded the ‘keeper and slotted home into the empty net.

The Torneo delle Nazioni has been held for boys for the past 15 years (including this one), but this is just the third time it has been held for women. This year’s competition is for players born in 2002 or later. The U.S. team is made up of 10 players born in 2002, which is the age group for this year’s U-16 GNT, and five players born in 2003, which puts them in the U-15 GNT age group. In addition, there are five players on the roster born in 2001, which is the age cutoff for the team that will be participated in the Women’s World Cup qualifying tournament in Nicaragua before it was cancelled last weekend.

U-16 Girls’ National Team Match Report

Match: U.S. Under-16 Girls’ National Team vs Iran U-17 WNT
Date: April 25, 2018
Competition: 3^rd U-17 Women’s Torneo delle Nazioni
Venue: ND Renče Field; Renče, Slovenia
Weather: Low 70s, sunny

Scoring Summary:    1          2          F
USA                             6          2          8
IRN                              0          0          8

USA – Kailyn Dudukovich (Alexis Missimo)               8^th minute
USA – Kalyssa Van Zanten (Kailyn Dudukovich)      11
USA – Kailyn Dudukovich (Michelle Cooper)             14
USA – Kailyn Dudukovich (Alexis Missimo)               19
USA – Kailyn Dudukovich (Kalyssa Van Zanten)      23
USA – Alexis Missimo (Aislynn Crowder)                  32
USA – Michelle Cooper (Aislynn Crowder)                39
USA – Trinity Byars (Ariella Pitty)                              58

Lineups:
USA: 12-Alia Skinner; 23-Elaine Rouse, 13-Tori Hansen (4-Baleigh Bruster, 36), 5-Lilly Reale, 3-Kellie Pagador (2-Nya Harrison, 36), 16-Alexis Theoret (9-Jaelyn Eisenhart, 36), 7-Aislynn Crowder (21-Ariella Pitty, 56), 15-Alexis Missimo (19-Grace Watkins, 36), 20-Kalyssa Van Zanten (8-Dilary Heredia-Beltran, 46), 18-Michelle Cooper (25-Trinity Byars, 46), 6-Kailyn Dudukovich
Subs not used: 1-Lindey Romig, 10-Reilyn Turner
Head Coach: April Kater

IRN: 1-Maedeh Davaji; 23-Hanieh Khodaparasti, 4-Ghazaleh Bantalebi, 5-Fatemeh Shaban, 8-Marzieh Feizi, 16-Zhino Peykari (2-Sahar Mohammadzadeh, 18), 6-Fatemeh Amiri, 10-Maral Torkaman (18-Fatemeh Sarvarzadeh, 43), 11-Golnoosh Khosravi (20-Golnoosh Khosravi, 58), 7-Fatemeh Makhdoumi, 9-Roghayeh Jalalnasab
Subs not used: 12-Melika Zeidabadinejad, 14-Hadis Salehisaroukolaei, 15-Shaghayegh Motamedi, 17-Maryam Sadeghani, 21-Helia Piltan
Head Coach: Katayoun Khosrowyar

Stats Summary: USA / IRN
Shots: 18 / 0
Shots on Goal: 14 / 0
Saves: 0 / 6
Corner Kicks: 2 / 0
Fouls: 1 / 3
Offside: 4 / 0

Misconduct Summary:
None