KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (Oct. 6, 2023) – The U.S. Women’s Deaf National Team defeated Turkey 3-0 to win its third Women’s World Deaf Championship. Goals from midfielders Holly Hunter and Sophie Post as well as forward Emily Spreeman led the team to victory.
Spreeman earned the Golden Boot as the tournament’s highest goal scorer with 13 goals across six matches and also took home the Golden Ball as the competition’s top player. Goalkeeper Taegan Frandsen earned the Golden Glove as the best goalkeeper. The USA swept all the post-tournament honors, also winning the Fair Play Award.
The USA found its stride immediately, building on its momentum coming out of a 10-1 semifinal win over England as its attacking mentality was on display from the jump. The USA created chance after chance before finding the opener in the ninth minute as Hunter fought to get the ball into the goal following a scramble after a corner kick from the left side.
The Americans continued to apply pressure, dominating possession and keeping most of the game in the Turkey’s defensive half. The USA was unfortunate not to find the back of the net multiple times but its efforts paid off in the 37th minute as a breakaway sequence that led to a couple of blocked shots ended with Post getting the ball near the top of the box and firing a powerful shot on goal. The ‘keeper initially seemed to have made the save, but the ball rolled between her legs and across the goal line to double the lead.
The USA came out strong in the second half. It only took two minutes before midfielder Mia White played a ball over the top for Spreeman, who did well to settle it and finish with a left-footed shot from just inside the penalty box. With the goal, Spreeman impressively recorded a goal in every match of the tournament on the way to her Golden Boot award.
Turkey did well in the second half to string together a few chances, but a stellar five-save performance by Frandsen in goal, which included an impressive double save off a Turkey set piece early in the second half, helped ensure the shutout for the USA to claim the title.
USA – Holly Hunter (Gracie Fitzgerald), 9th minute: Fitzgerald took an in-swinging corner from the left side that sailed over the goalkeeper and landed just in front of the goal line where Hunter won a scramble to tap the ball over the goal line from four years out for the opener. USA 1, TUR 0
USA – Sophie Post, 38th minute: The USA played out of the back brilliantly and caught the Turkey defense off guard on a breakaway which led to a cross from Spreeman deflecting off a defender. Price found the rebound and fired toward goal, but her shot was also deflected and landed near Post, who then fired from the top of the box. The ‘keeper almost made the save, but the ball snuck between her legs and rolled across the goal line. USA 2, TUR 0
USA – Emily Spreeman (Mia White), 47th minute: White played Spreeman with a ball over the top on the right side. She took a touch to settle the ball and dribbled to set up her shot, which was a carefully placed left-footer past the goalkeeper toward the back post from 17 yards out. USA 3, TUR 0
Match: USA Women’s Deaf National Team vs. England
Date: October 5, 2023
Competition: 2023 DIFA Women’s Deaf World Championships - Final
Venue: Kuala Lumpur Football Stadium Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Kickoff: 8:30 a.m. ET (8:30 p.m. local)
Weather: 82 degrees, mostly cloudy
Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
USA 2 1 3
ENG 0 0 0
USA – Holly Hunter (Gracie Fitzgerald) 9th minute
USA – Sophie Post 38
USA – Emily Spreeman (Mia White) 47
Lineups:
USA: 1-Taegan Frandsen, 2-Kate Ward (Capt.) (4-McCall Madriago, 89), 3-Paige Beaudry, 5-Gracie Fitzgerald, 9-Ani Khachadourian, 10-Emily Spreeman, 11-Sydney Andrews (Capt.), 12-Sophie Post (8-Erin Cembrale, 63), 14-Paris Price (18-Faith Wylie, 75), 17-Mia White, 24-Holly Hunter (16-Emma Neff, 89)
Subs not used: 21-Payton DeGraw, 6-Mia McMurry, 7-Sabina Shysh, 13-Ashley Derrington, 15-Beth Barbiers, 22-Nikki Koehn,
Not dressed: 23-Casey King
Head Coach: Amy Griffin
TUR: 1-Zeynep Erdogan, 4-Merve Orucu, 5-Aysenur Cankaya, 6-Havane Dilbe (16-Sumeyra Yildiz, 80), 7-Berfin Demir, 8-Irem Kara (9-Raziye Yesilyurt, 84), 10-Oziem Aktas (2-Berna Cekic, 90), 14-Kardelen Duran (Capt.), 15-Busra Dogruyol, 17-Ecrin Kose, 18-Elif Omur
Subs not used: 12-Muslume Develi, 3-Bahar Cevikalp, 11-Sevdenur Semiz, 19-Seydanur Kuzu, 20-Esra Salehein,
Head Coach: Gokhan Berat
Stats Summary: USA / ENG
Shots: 17 / 8
SOG: 8 / 5
Saves: 5 / 5
Corner Kicks: 8 / 1
Fouls: 10 / 10
Offside: 7 / 0
Misconduct Summary:
TUR – Berfin Demir 26th minute
USA – Erin Cembrale 71
Officials:
Referee: Nurul Ain Izaty Zainal
Assistant Referee 1: Nur Akyal Anuar
Assistant Referee 2: Munirah Ha ali
Fourth Official: Nurul Hafizah binti Nuraddin