U.S. U-17 Women’s National Team overpowers Uruguay 4-1

Mar del Plata, ARGENTINA (Via U.S. Soccer) – The U.S. Under-17 Women’s National Team won its second game in as many tries at the Copa Provincia de Buenos Aires tournament with a 4-1 result against Uruguay. Forwards Isabella D’Aquila and Samantha Meza each scored twice.

All five goals were scored in the first half, four of them by the 27^th minute, at which time the USA held a 3-1 lead before D’Aquila finished her brace just before the halftime whistle.

Up next on Sept. 17 the USA will face Chile, a 4-2 winner over Argentina in the other game on the second match day, in the tournament finale for the young Americans. A win or a tie vs. Chile will give the USA the championship.

The opening goal came just six minutes in as Maya Doms played Meza through on a breakaway to make it 1-0. Uruguay struck right back to equalize less than a minute later as Esperanza Pizarro capitalized on a U.S. mistake in the back.

+READ: U.S. U-17 Women’s National Team storms past Argentina 9-0

The USA went ahead to stay three minutes later D’Aquila received a pass from Mia Fishel and dribbled at speed for 15 yards towards the goal with a defender on her hip. D’Aquila then broke free from her mark and slipped her shot past the goalkeeper.

The third goal came in the 27^th minute as D’Aquila received a pass inside the penalty area and then laid the ball back to Jordan Canniff who clipped it over a defender’s foot to Meza who scored.

Canniff created the final goal as well, dribbling into the penalty box before flicking it with the outside of her foot to D’Aquila for her to finish from six-yards out.

D’Aquila’s two scores upped her international total to eight while Meza scored her first two at the U-17 level.

The USA played the final few minutes with 10 players after defender Smith Hunter received her second yellow card in the 85^th minute and was ejected.

+READ: U.S. U-23 WNT to face NWSL teams in 2018 Thorns Spring Invitational

The USA will participate in the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Under-17 Championship being held in Nicaragua from April 19-29. The Americans seeded into Group B where they will face Costa Rica, Bermuda and Canada in the tournament that will qualify three teams to the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.

Carr’s roster consists of 18 players born in 2001 – the age cut off year for the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup — and four born in 2002.

The three South American teams, some of the strongest on the continent for women’s soccer outside of Brazil, are also preparing for their World Cup qualifying tournament. All three will participate in the 2018 South American Under-17 Women’s Football Championship being held in March in Argentina. As host, Uruguay has an automatic berth, meaning only the top two finishers at that tournament will earn berths to the World Cup.

U.S. Under-17 Women’s National Team Match Report

Match: United States U-17 Women’s National Team vs. Uruguay U-17 Women’s National Team
Date: February 15, 2018
Competition: Copa Provincia de Buenos Aires
Venue: Estadio José María Minella; Mar del Plata, Argentina
Attendance: 175
Weather: 70 degrees, clear, light wind

Scoring Summary:   1          2          F
USA                              4          0          4
URU                             1          0          0

USA – Samantha Meza (Maya Doms) 6th minute
URU – Esperanza Pizarro                                                      7
USA – Isabella D’Aquila (Mia Fishel)                                      10
USA – Samantha Meza (Jordan Canniff)                                27
USA ­– Isabella D’Aquila (Jordan Canniff)                               45

Lineups:
USA: 1-Angelina Anderson (capt.);14-Smith Hunter, 23-Kennedy Wesley (5-Tori Hansen,46), 15-Natalia Staude, 3-Kate Wiesner; 20-Sophia Jones (6-Astrid Wheeler, 63), 17-Maya Doms (Croix Bethune, 46), 10-Mia Fishel, 7-Samantha Meza, 13-Isabella D’Aquila (16-Payton Linnehan,75), 9-Jordan Canniff (8-Sunshine Fontes, 63)
Subs not used: 2- Makenna Morris, 4-Talia DellaPeruta, 8-Diana Ordonez, 11-Sam Kroeger, 12-Cayla White, 22-Julia Dohle
Head Coach: Mark Carr

URU: 1-Brisa Da Silva, 4-Tatiana Lima, 3-Sofi Ramondegui, 5-Denya Morales (15-Karol Bermudez, 57), 8-Sasha Larrea, 9-Cecilia Gomez (17-Iara Romeo, 87), 10-Valentina Morales, 11-Esperanza Pizarro, 14-Antonella Ferrandans, 19-Michaela Dominguez, 20-Maytel Costa
Subs not used: 1-Daniela Oliviera, 6-Sharron Lopez, 7-Angela Gomez, 12-Inailen Rodriguez, 13-Adriana Salvagno, 16-Victoria Martinez, 18-Wendy Carballo, 21-Nikol Laurnaga, 73-Josefina Villa

Stats Summary: USA / URU
Shots: 9 / 6
Shots on Goal: 5 / 2
Saves: 1 / 1
Corner Kicks: 7 / 0
Fouls: 10 / 8
Offside: 2 / 1

Misconduct Summary:
URU – Valentina Morales (caution)               36^th minute
USA – Sunshine Fontes (caution)                  67
USA – Smith Hunter (caution)                        70
USA – Astrid Wheeler (caution)                     80
USA – Smith Hunter (caution)                        85
USA – Smith Hunter (ejection)                       85