USA battles Jamaica in Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship Quarterfinal on Wednesday

U.S. Under-17 Women’s Youth National Team
2022 Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship – Quarterfinal
USA vs. Jamaica
Estadio Panamericano; San Cristobal, Dominican Republic
May 4, 2022
4 p.m. ET (Fox Soccer Plus, ViX App in Spanish; Re-Air on FS2 at Midnight ET.)

USA FACES JAMAICA FOR BERTH TO CONCACAF WOMEN’S U-17 CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINALS:

After scoring 49 goals over the first four games of the 2022 Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship, the U.S. Under-17 Women’s Youth National Team will face a stiffer test when it takes on Jamaica in the quarterfinal round. The match will take place on Wednesday, May 4 at 4 p.m. ET at Estadio Panamericano in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic (Fox Soccer Plus, ViX App in Spanish).

The USA’s goals have come from 14 different players (only four field players have yet to score) and are far and away the most goals scored in a Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship by the USA – through four games or a whole tournament — albeit coming in the new format that features 20 nations and requires seven games to lift the trophy. Each of the past U-17 Concacaf tournaments have featured eight teams and five games to win the title. Fifteen different U.S. players have registered assists.

All three teams that advanced out of the USA’s Group G to the knockout rounds won their Round of 16 matchups, the USA over Curacao, Puerto Rico 2-0 over Group E runner-up Panama and Costa Rica 1-0 over Group E third-place finisher Nicaragua.

Players born on or after Jan. 1, 2005, are age-eligible for the 2022 Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship. U.S. head coach Natalia Astrain selected 16 players born in 2005 and four born in 2006. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on Youth National Team programming, all the U.S. players playing in this tournament made their international debuts in the Dominican Republic.

BROADCAST INFO:

All tournament matches are being broadcast in English on Fox Soccer Plus or FS2 and on the Fox Sports app with corresponding authentication. All matches are also available in Spanish on TelevisaUnivision’s new streaming service ViX. Fans can visit vix.com or download the app on their devices to watch all the games.

U.S. UNDER-17 WOMEN’S YOUTH NATIONAL TEAM ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB; HOMETOWN; CAPS/GOALS):

GOALKEEPERS (2): 1-Abigail Gundry (NC Courage; Wake Forest, N.C.; 2), 12-Victoria Safradin (Internationals SC; Eastlake, Ohio; 2)

DEFENDERS (6): 2-Nicola Fraser (Real Colorado National; Highlands Ranch, Colo.; 3/1), 17-Alyssa Gonzalez (San Diego Surf; San Diego, Calif.; 2/0), 3-Savannah King (LAFC SoCal Youth; West Hills, Calif.; 3/0), 4-Cameron Roller (Solar SC; Sherman, Texas; 3/1), 5-Keegan Schmeiser (Chicago FC United; Bolingbrook, Ill.; 3/0), 20-Gisele Thompson (Total Futbol Academy; Studio City, Calif.; 3/0)

MIDFIELDERS (6): 10-Mia Bhuta (Internationals SC; Pittsburgh, Pa.; 4/2), 15-Shae Harvey (Slammers FC HB Koge; Hermosa Beach, Calif.; 3/4), 13-Claire Hutton (World Class FC; Bethlehem, N.Y.; 4/6), 7-Riley Jackson (Concorde Fire; Roswell, Ga.; 2/1), 8-Charlotte Kohler (Mountain View Los Altos; Woodside, Calif.; 2/5), 19-Lauren Martinho (NC Courage; Cary, N.C.; 4/3)

FORWARDS (6): 18-Onyeka Gamero (Beach FC; Cerritos, Calif.; 3/4), 11-Nicollette Kiorpes (NEFC; Worcester, Mass.; 4/5), 6-Mia Oliaro (NC Courage; Chapel Hill, N.C.; 4/3), 14-Melina Rebimbas (Players Development Academy; Warren, N.J.; 4/4), 9-Taylor Suarez (Charlotte SA; Charlotte, N.C.; 3/2), 16-Amalia Villarreal (Michigan Jaguars FC; Lansing, Mich.; 4/7)

TOURNAMENT FORMAT:

This year marks the seventh edition of the Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship. The tournament began in 2008, the first year that FIFA staged a Women’s World Cup for U-17 women.

The 2020 competition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and thus this is the first Concacaf U-17 tournament to introduce the new 20-team tournament format, which has been used for the previous two Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championships. All previous iterations of the U-17 event were comprised of eight teams split into two groups of four. Now, sixteen countries were drawn into four groups of four, while four countries – Guyana, Honduras, Curaçao and Saint Kitts and Nevis — advanced directly to the Round of 16 via a pre-qualifying tournament. All four lost by multiple goals in their sole matches of the tournament, although Honduras gave Canada a run, scoring first and holding them to 1-1 at halftime before giving up three second half goals.

The top three finishers in each group qualified to the Round of 16, where they were joined by the four teams from pre-qualifying. From there, it’s a knockout bracket to the tournament final. The two winners of the semifinal matches, plus the winner of the third-place game, will qualify to the 2022 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in India.

2022 CONCACAF WOMEN’S U-17 CHAMPIONSHIP

QUARTERFINAL MATCH-UPS 

May 4

Estadio Panamericano

• USA vs. Jamaica (4 p.m. ET; Fox Soccer Plus / ViX / Re-Air on FS2 at Midnight ET)
• Costa Rica vs. Canada (7 p.m. ET; FS2 / ViX)

Estadio Olímpico Félix Sánchez

• Mexico vs. Dominican Republic (4 p.m. ET; ViX Live / Delayed on Fox Soccer Plus at 9 p.m. ET)
• Puerto Rica vs. El Salvador (7 p.m. ET; Fox Soccer Plus / ViX)

USA VS. JAMAICA — HOW THEY GOT HERE: 

USA

JAMAICA

USA U-17S VS. JAMAICA:

• The USA and Jamaica have met just once in a Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship and that was back in 2014, a 7-0 U.S. win in the third-place match of a tournament played in Jamaica. The USA was coming off a disappointing penalty kick loss to Mexico in the Semifinal that knocked the Americans out of the World Cup. Current USWNT star Mallory Pugh scored twice in that game.

• Natoya Atkinson has scored in all four games for Jamaica and leads the team in scoring with five goals. Tiny Seaton, Dannique Wilson and Shaneil Buckley have scored twice each.

• Jamaica picked up a huge draw with Canada in its final group game, and even had the lead via Atkinson in the 38th, but Canada equalized in the 50^th. Canada needed just a tie to win the group while the Reggae Girlz needed to win, so Canada topped the group.

• Seventeen of Jamaica’s players play domestically. The three that don’t are midfielder Avery Johnson, who played with U.S. forward Taylor Suarez for a time at the Charlotte Soccer Academy before switching clubs, forward Maya Raghunandanan, who scored twice against Bermuda and who plays for the Philadelphia Ukrainians, and forward Sundai Amele, who is based in England and plays for Goffs Academy/Tottenham Hotspurs.

CAPTAINS:

Midfielder Mia Bhuta captained the USA in its first match against Grenada and fourth match vs. Curacao. Midfielder Riley Jackson captained the team vs. Puerto Rico and against Costa Rica.

FIRST U-17 CAPS:

Sixteen players made their international debuts on April 23 vs. Grenada. The remaining four players on the roster made their international debuts on April 25 vs. Puerto Rico: goalkeeper Abby Gundry, midfielder Riley Jackson, defender Alyssa Gonzalez and defender Gisele Thompson. Gonzalez tallied an assist in her first U-17 cap and Jackson had three assists in her first U-17 appearance, tied for most in a game so far in this tournament with Onyeka Gamero and Taylor Suarez.

SPREADING THE MINUTES AROUND:

All 20 players on the roster have seen action in the tournament, but only seven have played in all four games thus far: Mia Bhuta, Claire Hutton, Nicollette Kiorpes, Lauren Martinho, Mia Oliaro, Melina Rebimbas and Amalia Villarreal.

• Defender Cameron Roller leads the USA in minutes played (270), having played every minute of all three matches in which she has appeared.
• The minutes have been evenly distributed by the U.S. coaching staff, with no player playing fewer than 159 minutes, and aside from Roller, no player playing more than 230.

CONTRIBUTORS ALL OVER THE FIELD:

Mia’s Bhuta’s two goals vs. Curacao, the first goals of her international career, made her the 14^th different player to score for the USA in this tournament over the first four games, tying a U.S. record for most players to score in a Concacaf U-17 qualifying tournament. All the previous tournaments were played with eight teams, and this is the first in which 20 nations are competing for the title. The record was set in the first-ever Concacaf tournament at this age level in 2008. That tournament took five matches to win, while this one will take seven.

• Nine different players scored in the Grenada match and nine different players had assists.

• Six different players scored in the Puerto Rico match and six different players had assists.

• Five different players scored in the Costa Rica match and four different players had assists.

• Six different players scored against Curacao and six different players had assists.

• Fifteen different players have assists for the USA in this tournament, led by Onyeka Gamero and Taylor Suarez with five each.

• After scoring one goal against Grenada, five against Puerto Rico (tying a U.S. record for most goals in a game at any level) and one against Costa Rica, forward Amalia Villarreal leads the USA and the tournament in scoring with seven goals.

• Midfielder Claire Hutton also scored in all three group games, registering a hat trick against PR and logging a total of six goals so far in the tourney.
• Midfielder Charlotte Kohler and forward Nicollette Kiorpes have five goals each and midfielder Shae Harvey, forward Onyeka Gamero and forward Melina Rebimbas have four each. Midfielder Lauren Martinho and defender/forward Mia Oliaro have three goals each.

TOURNAMENT TOP SCORERS:

The USA has seven of the top 15 scorers in the tournament so far. Canada’s Rosa Maalouf leads the tournament with nine goals. Mexico’s Valerie Vargas has eight while Amalia Villarreal has seven. Mexico’s Maribel Flores and Layla Sirdah both have six goals, tied with the USA’s Claire Hutton. The most goals ever scored in one Concacaf Women’s U-17 Tournament for the USA, albeit in the five-game format, was 12 by Summer Green in 2012. Lindsey Horan scored nine in 2010.

MULTI-GOAL GAMES ABOUND:

The Grenada match marked the first time that three different players (Charlotte Kohler, Shae Harvey and Melina Rebimbas) scored three or more goals in a single USWNT match at any age level, and just the fifth time that two different players scored three or more goals in a single match at any age level. Against Puerto Rico on April 25, Amalia Villarreal and Claire Hutton become the fourth and fifth players for the USA in this tournament to score three or more goals in a game. Against Curacao, Onyeka Gamero and Nicollette Kiorpes became the sixth and seventh players to score three or more goals in a game in a tournament (marking the seventh time that feat had been accomplished). The seven players with three or more goals in a game in one tournament is the most ever for a U.S. Youth National Team.

SISTER ACT:

Defender Gisele Thompson is the younger sister (by 13 months) of U.S. U-20 WYNT forward Alyssa Thompson, who helped the USA win the Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship earlier this year in the Dominican Republic. Giselle and Alyssa helped the U-15 WYNT win the 2018 Concacaf U-15 Championship. While that tournament featured mostly 2003-birth year players, the USA brought a younger squad composed of players born in 2004 and 2005, including the 2004-born Alyssa and 2005-born Gisele.

MNT DADS:

Defender Nicola Fraser is the daughter of former U.S. international and current Colorado Rapids head coach Robin Fraser, who has 27 caps for the USA. With her start vs. Grenada on April 23, Fraser became the second daughter of a male or female U.S. National Team player to earn a cap at any level of the U.S. Women’s National Teams program. Chicago Red Stars midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo, whose father Angelo played 20 times for the USA, earned 20 caps and scored three goals at the U-20 level. With her goal to cap the scoring against Puerto Rico, Fraser became the second daughter of a former U.S. Men’s National Team player to score for the USA in international play, joining DiBernardo. Nicola’s dad did not score in his international career, making Nicola the first in the Fraser family to bag an international goal.

Midfielder Charlotte Kohler is the daughter of Will Kohler, who was a member of the U.S. U-17 Men’s Youth National Team at the 1991 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Italy. He came off the bench in the first match, a famous 1-0 win over Italy, and played 90 minutes in the third group game, a 3-1 win over China PR. He also came off the bench in the quarterfinal against Qatar, but the USA fell in penalty kicks after drawing 1-1 in regulation. Kohler’s parents met when both were playing college soccer at Harvard.

DESTINATION INDIA:

Midfielder Mia Bhuta is a rare USWNT player of Indian heritage and happens to be the correct birth year for a U.S. team that’s competing to earn a berth to the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India.

QUALIFIED:

Seven countries have already qualified for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup thus far. In addition to host India, China PR and Japan have qualified from Asia via nominations by Asian Football Confederation based on results of 2019 AFC U-16 Women’s Championship after the U-17 qualifying tournament was cancelled. Brazil, Chile and Colombia have qualified from the recently completed 2022 South American U-17 Women’s Championship, while New Zealand was nominated by the Oceania Football Confederation after their qualifying tournament was also cancelled. Nine berths remain to be filled, three each from Concacaf, Africa and Europe.