USA opens Concacaf Girls’ U-15 Championship with 12-0 rout of Puerto Rico

TAMPA, Florida – The U.S. Under-15 Women’s Youth National Team rolled past Puerto Rico 12-0 to open the 2022 Concacaf Girls’ U-15 Championship.

Midfielder Kimmi Ascanio, the youngest player on the roster, scored a true hat trick inside of 15 minutes, finding the net in the sixth, ninth and 14^th minutes. Midfielder Kennedy Fuller added four goals, two in the first half and two in the second half of the 70-minute match, and Alexandra Pfeiffer scored three goals while picking up three assists.

Forward Abby Ballek and midfielder Ashlyn Puerta had the USA’s other two goals. Ballek also had two assists as did forward Ava Harrison.

This year marks the fourth Concacaf tournament for this age group and the competition is being held from July 31 to Aug. 7. The U.S. has won both Concacaf Girls’ U-15 Championships in which it has participated (2016 and 2018).

The USA will face Jamaica on Tuesday, Aug. 2 (11 a.m. ET) and wrap up the group stage vs. Canada on Thursday, Aug. 4 (9 a.m. ET). All matches are being broadcast on https://www.concacaf.com/en/concacaf-go/ and on the Concacaf App.

Players born on or after Jan. 1, 2007, are age-eligible this tournament. U.S. head coach Katie Schoepfer selected 17 players born in 2007 and one born in 2008 – which is the hat trick hero Ascanio.

The 2022 Concacaf Women’s U-15 Championship is the largest ever, featuring 32 teams (31 Concacaf nations and one invited guest in Wales) and is split into three leagues. The leagues were divided based on the Concacaf Women’s Under-17 ranking, with the top seven teams plus the guest team in League A, the next 12 best teams in League B and the remaining teams in League C. Within each league, teams are drawn into groups of four. In the USA’s League A, the top two teams in each group will advance to the semifinals. All the matches of the tournament are being played with two 35-minute halves.

The 2020 Concacaf Girls’ U-15 Championship was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2018, the tournament mostly featured 2003-birth year players, but the USA brought a younger team composed of players born in 2004 and 2005. Despite the younger squad, the U.S. won its second-straight U-15 Championship with a 3-0 victory against Mexico in the final. Midfielder Olivia Moultrie as well as forwards Jaedyn Shaw and Alyssa Thompson and goalkeeper Teagan Wy were all a part of the USA’s title-winning run in 2018 and were recently named to the U.S. team for this summer’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.

— U.S. UNDER-15 WOMEN’S YOUTH NATIONAL TEAM MATCH REPORT –

Match: United States U-15 Women’s National Team vs. Puerto Rico U-15 Women’s National Team

Date: August 1, 2022
Competition: CONCACAF Girls’ U-15 Championship
Venue: Tournament Sportsplex of Tampa Bay, Florida; Field #2
Weather: 92 degrees, sunny

Scoring Summary:   1          2          F
USA 7          5          12
PUR 0          0          0

USA – Kimmi Ascanio (Ava Harrison)                        6th minute
USA – Kimmi Ascanio (Kennedy Fuller)                    9
USA – Kimmi Ascanio (Alexandra Pfeiffer)                14
USA – Kennedy Fuller (Alexandra Pfeiffer)               26
USA – Alexandra Pfeiffer (Kennedy Fuller)               31
USA – Kennedy Fuller                                                32
USA – Alexandra Pfeiffer (Ava Harrison)                   35+1
USA – Kennedy Fuller (Abby Ballek)                         39
USA – Abby Ballek (Ava Harrison)                            46
USA – Ashlyn Puerta (Alexandra Pfeiffer)                 49
USA – Kennedy Fuller                                                56
USA – Alexandra Pfeiffer (Abby Ballek)                    69

Lineups:

USA: 1-Molly Vapensky; 3-Ava Harrison, 6-Daya King (2-Maddie Costello, 49), 7-Kimmi Ascanio (17-Ashlyn Puerta, 45), 8-Jordyn Hardeman; 9-Alexandra Pfeiffer, 10-Kennedy Fuller, 13-Mya Brandon, 14-Kai Price (5-Alexis Coughlin, 36), 15-Caroline Helfrich (4-Abby Ballek, 36), 18-Ainsley McCammon (Capt.) (11-Katharine Scott, 45)

Subs not used: 12-Kennedy Zorn

Head Coach: Katie Schoepfer

PUR: 12-Andrea Perez (1-Adrienne Cardona, 36); 2-Alicia Carrasquillo, 4-Sienna Aviles (6-Natalia Rivera, 36), 5-Camila Ferraiuoli, 7-Katarina Soto (8-Amanda Rodriguez, 28), 9-Hannah Flores, 11-Andrea Perez (Capt.), 14-Gabriela Berrios, 15-Camila Figueroa (3-Lauryn Smith, 28), 17-Miranda Dumornay, 18-Susana Roberts

Subs not used: 13-Ana Rivera, 16-Candace Febus

Head Coach: Wendy Espejel

Stats Summary: USA / PR
Shots: 23 / 0
Shots on Goal: 15 / 0
Saves: 0 / 3
Corner Kicks: 11 / 0
Fouls: 4 / 1
Offside: 1 / 0

Misconduct Summary:
None

Officials:
Referee: Itzel Hernandez (MEX)
Assistant Referee 1: Karla Flores (MEX)
Assistant Referee 2: Krystal Delancy-Evans (BAH)
Fourth Official: Dilia Bradley (GUA)