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	2 (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.

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	22	2	0	137	5

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	Qualified
Total	2/5	9	4	3	2	20	11

Players

Roster for the 2016 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship,^[8] which also served as the CONCACAF qualification tournament for the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. Caps and goals include previous seasons and are current as of March 13, 2016 after match against Mexico.

0#0	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
12	GK	Hillary Beall	January 27, 1999	1	0	So Cal Blues
1	GK	Laurel Ivory	August 19, 1999	7	0	Sunrise Sting
4	DF	Naomi Girma	October 2, 1998	8	0	Central Valley Corssfire
9	DF	Kiara Pickett	April 30, 1999	0	0	Eagles SC
11	DF	Izzy Rodriguez	April 13, 1999	6	0	Michigan Hawks
16	DF	Karina Rodriguez	March 2, 1999	10	1	So Cal Blues
6	DF	Emily Smith	February 10, 1999	4	0	De Anza Force
15	DF	Kennedy Wesley	March 8, 2001	7	0	So Cal Blues
19	DF	Kate Wiesner	February 11, 2001	8	0	Slammers FC
18	MF	Jaelin Howell	November 21, 1999	10	0	Real Colorado
8	MF	Brianna Pinto	May 24, 2000	11	1	CASL
20	MF	Frankie Tagliaferri	January 18, 1999	10	5	PDA
2	MF	Taryn Torres	April 23, 1999	7	0	FC Dallas
5	MF	Sydney Zandi	May 28, 1999	7	0	Penn Fusion
17	FW	Jordan Canniff	July 27, 2001	4	1	Richmond United
13	FW	Rachel Jones	January 21, 2000	9	0	Tophat SC
14	FW	Civanna Kuhlmann	April 14, 1999	11	8	Colorado Rush
10	FW	Ashley Sanchez (captain)	March 16, 1999	11	10	So Cal Blues
3	FW	Sophia Smith	August 10, 2000	10	2	Real Colorado
7	FW	Alexa Spaanstra	February 1, 2000	11	2	Michigan Hawks

Previous rosters

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

2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup squad

Roster for the 2013 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship,^[10] which also served as the CONCACAF qualification tournament for the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.

0#0	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
18	GK	Kat Hess	October 2, 1998			LA Premier
1	GK	Lauren Rood	October 9, 1997			Washington Timbers
5	DF	Gabriella Carreiro	September 5, 1997			FC Stars of Mass.
7	DF	Mia Gyau	June 22, 1998			Bethesda Lions
6	DF	Natalie Jacobs	August 16, 1997			Slammers FC
10	DF	Ellie Jean	January 31, 1997			Oakwood SC
12	DF	Tegan McGrady	October 11, 1997			MVLA SC
9	DF	Zoe Morse	April 1, 1998			Michigan Hawks
13	DF	Taylor Otto	October 23, 1997			CASL
2	MF	Dorian Bailey	January 28, 1997			Sporting BVSC
4	MF	Marley Canales	November 16, 1997			San Diego Surf
14	MF	Taylor Racioppi	February 26, 1997			PDA Clash
19	MF	Anika Rodriguez	January 4, 1997			So Cal Blues
25	MF	Marisol Guerrero	July 29, 1998
3	FW	Madison Haley	October 25, 1998			Dallas Texans
8	FW	Kelcie Hedge	September 19, 1997			Washington Premier
11	FW	Civana Kuhlmann	April 14, 1999			Colorado Rush
17	FW	Mallory Pugh	April 29, 1998			Real Colorado
15	FW	Zoe Redei	October 8, 1997			Eclipse Select
22	FW	Maddy Schultz	January 20, 1998			Northwest Nationals

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. "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.
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.

External links

• Official website