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.)
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.
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.
Follow the U-17 WYNT throughout the tournament on ussoccer.com as well as U.S. Soccer Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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)
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.
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)
|
Date |
Match-Up |
Result |
Goal Scorers |
|
|
Grenada |
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|
|
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Martinho, Villarreal (5), Suarez (2), Hutton (3), Kiorpes, Fraser |
|
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Villarreal, Kohler, Jackson, Gamero, Hutton |
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|
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Gamero (3), Kiorpes (3), Rebimbas, Martinho, Bhuta (2), Oliaro |
|
Date |
Match-Up |
Result |
Goal Scorers |
|
Apr. 24, 2022 |
Bermuda |
7-0 W |
Raghunandanan (2), Av. Johnson, Seaton, Nelson, Buckley, Atkinson |
|
Apr. 26, 2022 |
D. Republic |
3-1 W |
Seaton, Wilson, Atkinson |
|
Apr. 28, 2022 |
Canada |
1-1 T |
Atkinson |
|
May, 1, 2022 |
Cuba |
4-0 W |
Atkinson (2), Buckley, Wilson |
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.
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.
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.
Mia’s Bhuta’s two goals vs. Curacao, the first goals of her international career, made her the 14th 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.