USA defeats Colombia 4-1 in U.S. Soccer U-17 Women’s Invitational
LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. (Via U.S. Soccer) – The U.S. Under-17 Women’s National Team defeated Colombia, 4-1, to open the 2018 U.S. Soccer U-17 Women’s Invitational as forward Payton Linnehan, midfielder Mia Fishel and forward Sunshine Fontes tallied for the USA. The Americans also benefited from a Colombia own goal.
In the other match in the four-team round-robin tournament, England downed Mexico, 4-0. The USA will face Mexico on Oct. 12 while England squares off with Colombia. The USA finishes the tournament on Oct. 14 against England while Colombia will face Mexico.
This is the last international competition for the U.S. team before the U.S. head coach Mark Carr chooses the final 21-player roster for the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup to be held in Uruguay from Nov. 13-Dec. 1.
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Like the USA, Colombia will be participating in the upcoming World Cup, and it took the USA almost the entire half to open the scoring. In the 41st minute, Trinity Byars collected a thrown-in and played a pass to Linnehan, who in turn played a quick wall pass with Hannah Bebar. The return pass was chipped over the back line and into the penalty box for Linnehan to finish with her first touch.
The USA doubled its lead in the 57th minute as Samantha Meza hit a long ball to Fishel inside the penalty box. Fishel brought the ball down, beat a defender and lifted her shot into the upper right corner.
Two minutes later the USA benefited from an own goal off a corner kick from Makenna Morris as a Colombian defender inadvertently deflected the ball into her own net.
Colombia pulled a goal back in the 85th minute on a penalty kick, but the USA restored the three-goal lead three minutes later as Maya Doms played Fontes at the top of box and the Hawaiian beat a defender before finishing with a low shot into the corner.
The goal was the 21st career score for Fontes, tying her with Ashley Sanchez for most U-17 international goals in U.S. history.
The USA will begin its FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup on Nov. 14 against Cameroon and will face 2016 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup champion Korea DPR on Nov. 17 before finishing group play against Germany on Nov. 21.
The USA’s first two games will be played at Estadio Alberto Suppici in Colonia del Sacramento and the Germany match will take place at Estadio Charrúa in the capital of Montevideo. The third tournament venue is Estadio Domingo Burgueño Miguel in Maldonado. All three venues are on the southwest coast of Uruguay.
The 16 teams that will participate in the sixth FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup are host Uruguay, Brazil and Colombia from South America, the USA, Mexico and Canada from Concacaf, Ghana, Cameroon and South Africa from Africa, Korea Republic, Korea DPR and Japan from Asia, Finland, Germany and Spain from Europe, and New Zealand from Oceania.
– U.S. U-17 Women’s National Team Match Report –
Match: U.S. U-17 Women’s National Team vs. Colombia U-17 WNT
Date: October 10, 2018
Competition: U.S. Soccer U-17 Women’s Invitational
Venue: Sports Premier Campus; Lakewood Ranch, Fla.
Weather: 80 degrees, Thunderstorms
Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
USA 1 3 4
COL 0 1 1
USA – Payton Linnehan (Hannah Bebar) 41st minute
USA – Mia Fishel (Samantha Meza) 57
USA – Own Goal (n/a) 59
COL – Maireth Pèrez (Penalty Kick) 85
USA – Sunshine Fontes 88
USA: 1-Julia Dhole, 7-Smith Hunter, 15-Michela Agresti, 25-Natalia Staude, 2-Makenna Morris, 13-Sophia Jones (capt.) (16-Astrid Wheeler, 60), 5-Mia Fishel (11-Maya Doms, 69), 9-Hannah Bebar, 14-Payton Linnehan, 8-Trinity Byars (6-Sunshine Fontes, 60), 24-Samantha Meza
Subs Not Used: Angelina Anderson, Lindsey Romig, Samar Guidry, Talia DellaPeruta, Isabel D’Aquila, Jordan Canniff, Mia Fontana, Ainsley Ahmadian, Megan Bornkamp, Samantha Agresti, Trinity Rodman, Allyson Sentnor
Head Coach: Mark Carr
COL: 1-Michell Lugo (capt.) (20-Laura Galindo, 63), 2-Laura Orozco (7-Gisela Robledo, 46), 3-Sharon Ramirez, 4-Paula Gòmez, 5-Andea Pèrez, 6-Kelly Caicedo, 8-Sara Martinez (13-Luisa Restrepo, 63), 11-Natalia Ramirez (15-Ana Bohorquez, 63), 14-Laura Marcelo, 18-Maria Reyes, 19-Lina Jaime (10-Maireth Pèrez, 46)
Stats Summary: USA / COL
Shots: 15 / 5
Shots on Goal: 9 / 4
Saves: 3 / 6
Corner Kicks: 6 / 1
Fouls: 9 / 12
Offside: 0 / 0
Misconduct Summary:
COL – Laura Orozco (caution) 41st minute
COL – Maireth Pèrez (caution) 58
USA – Natalia Staude (caution) 73
Officials:
Referee: Natalie Simon
Assistant Referee: Jordyn Smith
Assistant Referee: Maxine Wertheim
Fourth Official: Kristin Kelsey
| 2018 U.S. Soccer U-17 Women’s Invitational Standings | ||||||||
| Team | GP | W | L | D | Pts. | GF | GA | GD |
| England | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | +4 |
| USA | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | +3 |
| Colombia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Mexico | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
