United States women's national under-17 soccer team

United States under-17

Nickname(s)	Team USA The Stars and Stripes The Yanks
Association	United States Soccer Federation
Confederation	CONCACAF (North America)
Head coach	B. J. Snow
FIFA code	USA
First colors Second colors
CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship
Appearances	5 (first in 2008)
Best result	Winners  : (2008, 2012 2016)
FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup
Appearances	3 (first in 2008)
Best result	Runners-up  : (2008)

The United States U-17 women's national soccer team is a youth soccer team operated under the auspices of U.S. Soccer. Its primary role is the development of players in preparation for the senior national team. The team's most recent major tournament was the 2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, in which the United States team finished runners-up to tournament champions North Korea. The team competes in a variety of competitions, including the biennial FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, which is the top competition for this age group. The current head coach B. J. Snow was hired in January 2013; the first time a full-time coach is in charge of this team.^[1]

History

2002–2005

The women's U-17 program was started in 2002 and was initially focused on developing players for the U-19 team. The U-17s played their first matches in November 2002, including a 3–0 victory over Scotland. Through 2003, the U-17s went undefeated in international matches, defeating youth teams from Canada and Germany, and repeated that feat in 2004. In 2005, however, the U-17s suffered defeats in matches against the Canadian and Mexican youth teams.

In 2006, the U-17s competed against various youth teams from Argentina and Germany, including a loss to Argentina's senior team.^[2]

2007–2008

In February 2007, FIFA began organizing for the inaugural FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in New Zealand.^[3] In preparation for the tournament, the U-17s posted a 9–1–0 record, defeating U-17 teams from Germany and Uruguay and U-19 teams from Denmark, England and Argentina.^[2]

In 2008, the U-17s compiled a record of 19–3–2 and 11–2–1 in international matches, winning the CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship in Trinidad and Tobago on July 26, 2008, defeating Costa Rica 4–1.^[4]

At the 2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, the United States lost their opening match to Japan. They scraped through the opening rounds of play with a draw against France, and advanced through the tournament to the final, where they lost in overtime to North Korea. Taylor Vancil was named the best goalkeeper at the tournament.^[5] Out of the 13 goals that the USA had at the tournament, only three players actually scored them: Vicki DiMartino (5), Courtney Verloo (4), and Kristen Mewis (2). The other two goals were own goals by Paraguay and North Korea.^[6]

2009–2010

The U-17s were favored to win the 2010 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship held in Costa Rica, winning their group and scoring 32 goals. However, they suffered a stunning loss to Canada in the semifinals, on a penalty shootout. This loss prevented the United States from qualifying to the 2010 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, the first time in history that a United States women's national soccer team has not advanced out of their region to a Women's World Cup.

2011–2012

In 2011, Albertin Montoya took over the U-17 squad, intent on developing a more possession style of play. The team started out the cycle slow against powerhouses Germany and Japan, going 1–1–2 in a set of friendlies, but eventually found their form and dominated the 2012 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship, outscoring their opposition 26–0 on their way to winning the tournament and qualifying for the 2012 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. Summer Green set a record with 12 goals, the most by an American player during any CONCACAF qualifying tournament.^[7]

However, the World Cup would not be kind to the Americans, as despite not losing a match, they would not make it out of their group. A series of draws between the US, eventual runners-up France, and North Korea meant that the two teams to advance would be decided by total goal differential against the fourth team in the group, Gambia. The USA's 6–0 win turned out not to be enough when North Korea sat deep in their own half to protect a draw, knowing they had scored 11 goals on Gambia, and France, knowing it was on the brink of elimination, pressed the outmatched Gambians to score 6 times in the final 20 minutes to turn a 4–2 match in the 70th minute into a 10–2 rout.

2013–2014

In 2013, B. J. Snow took over the U-17 squad for the 2014 World Cup Cycle. The cycle started out with great hope and expectations, but in a manner almost identical to 4 years before, the USA saw itself unable to qualify for the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup when they lost in the semifinals of the 2013 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship to Mexico in a penalty shootout despite having only given up one goal in the entire tournament.

FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup record

Year	Result	Matches	Wins	Draws	Losses	GF	GA
2008	Runners-up	6	3	1	2	13	10
2010	Did not qualify
2012	Group stage	3	1	2	0	7	1
2014	Did not qualify
2016	Group stage	3	1	0	2	9	6
Total	3/5	12	5	3	4	29	17

CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship

Year	Result	Matches	Wins	Draws	Losses	GF	GA
2008	Champions	5	5	0	0	29	2
2010	Third place	5	4	1	0	38	0
2012	Champions	5	5	0	0	26	0
2013	Third place	5	4	1	0	26	1
2016	Champions	5	5	0	0	18	2
Total	5/5	25	23	2	0	137	5

Players

Roster for the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.^[8]

0#0	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Club
1	GK	Laurel Ivory	28 August 1999 (aged 17)	West Florida Flames
2	MF	Jordan Canniff	27 July 2001 (aged 15)	Richmond United
3	FW	Sophia Smith	10 August 2000 (aged 16)	Real Colorado
4	DF	Naomi Girma	14 June 2000 (aged 16)	Central Valley Crossfire
5	DF	Karina Rodriguez	2 March 1999 (aged 17)	So Cal Blues SC
6	DF	Emily Smith	10 February 1999 (aged 17)	De Anza Force
7	MF	Alexa Spaanstra	1 February 2000 (aged 16)	Michigan Hawks
8	MF	Briana Pinto	24 May 2000 (aged 16)	CASL Elite
9	DF	Kiara Pickett	30 April 1999 (aged 17)	Eagles SC
10	FW	Ashley Sanchez	16 March 1999 (aged 17)	So Cal Blues SC
11	DF	Kate Wiesner	11 February 2001 (aged 15)	Slammers FC
12	GK	Meagan McCelland	5 August 2000 (aged 16)	PDA
13	DF	Isabel Rodriguez	13 April 1999 (aged 17)	Michigan Hawks
14	FW	Civana Kuhlmann	14 April 1999 (aged 17)	Colorado Rush
15	DF	Kennedy Wesley	8 March 2001 (aged 15)	So Cal Blues SC
16	MF	Sydney Zandi	28 May 1999 (aged 17)	Penn Fusion
17	MF	Lia Godfrey	8 November 2001 (aged 14)	Jacksonville Armada
18	MF	Jaelin Howell	21 November 1999 (aged 16)	Real Colorado
19	FW	Adrienne Richardson	22 January 1999 (aged 17)	Minnesota Thunder
20	MF	Frankie Tagliaferri	18 January 1999 (aged 17)	PDA
21	GK	Hillary Beall	27 January 1999 (aged 17)	So Cal Blues SC

Previous rosters

2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup

2012 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship

2012 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup^[9]

2013 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship^[10]

2016 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship^[11]

Coaches

• Erica Walsh (2004–2006)
• Kazbek Tambi (2006–2010)
• Mike Dickey (2010–2011)
• Albertin Montoya (2011–2012)
• B. J. Snow (from 2013)

References

1. "B.J. Snow Named Head Coach for U.S. U-17 Women's National Team". U.S.Soccer.
2. About the Team, US Soccer.
3. FIFA looks forward to the competitions in Chile and New Zealand, FIFA.com.
4. Women's U17 2008 Schedule, CONCACAF official website.
5. Perfect tens strike gold, FIFA.com
6. 2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Statistics: USA, FIFA.com.
7. "US Under-17 Women's National Team".
8. "FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Jordan 2016 – List of Players" (pdf). FIFA. 5 October 2016.
9. "Montoya Names 21-Player Roster for 2012 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Azerbaijan". U.S. Soccer. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
10. "U.S. U-17 WNT Kick Off Group B Play at 2013 CONCACAF Women's Championship against Trinidad & Tobago". U.S. Soccer. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
11. "GAME NOTES: U-17 WNT IN THE CONCACAF CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL AGAINST MEXICO AT 6 P.M. ET ON FS2". U.S. Soccer. Retrieved March 13, 2016.

External links

• Official website