Schnur, U23s Best England

Take Second Nordic Cup Game; Move to First in Group B

June 19, 2008

SWEDEN – UConn alum and Mutiny defender Meghan Schnur notched an assist and the Women’s Under-23 National Team beat England, 3-0, in its second game of the Nordic Cup Friday.

With the win, the Americans’ second in Group B, the U.S. now needs a win or a tie in its final first round match to win the group and earn a berth in its 12th straight Nordic Cup title game. Both the USA and Norway have won their first two matches and are tied atop the group with six points, but the USA has a superior goal difference at plus-4 to Norway’s plus-2, meaning a tie would give the U.S. top honors in the group.

India Trotter, who earned Player of the Match honors, scored in the 37th minute after Schnur played a great bending ball around the defense from the left side at about midfield. Trotter got on the end of it and beat a defender to go one-on-one with the ‘keeper before slotting her shot into the right corner.

“I thought we played really well tonight,” said Trotter, who today was named an alternate to the 2008 Olympic Team after Lauren Cheney was called into the 18-player Olympic roster to replace the injured Abby Wambach. “England played really high in the back line so we were able to use our speed and knock balls into space to get around them. Our outside backs did a great job playing balls over their defense into the space where we could beat them to the ball on the run.”

The USA went into halftime with a 1-0 lead but doubled the lead just two minutes after the break. The goal came off a corner kick which England cleared, but Tina DiMartino latched onto the ball and sent a pass across the left side of the penalty area to Kiki Bosio, who first-timed her shot into the back of the net.

Brittany Klein sealed the game in the 79th minute with her second goal of the tournament. Katie Larkin created the score with a great move down the left sideline before passing to Kerri Hanks in the middle. Harkin drew a defender and played it off to Klein, who took a touch and blasted the ball in the left corner of the goal.

"We played well today,” said U.S. head coach Bill Irwin. “We executed the plan that we worked on. We knew we could exploit them with our speed, and that’s how India got our first goal. In the second half, we made some adjustments and took control of the game.”

The U.S. backline of Schnur, Becky Sauerbrunn, Nikki Krzysik and Katherine Reynolds helped hold England to just two shots on goal. U.S. goalkeeper Val Henderson picked up her second straight shutout.

U.S. Under-23 Women’s National Team Match Report

Scoring Summary:
USA -- India Trotter (Meghan Schnur) 37th
USA -- Kiki Bosio (Tina DiMartino) 47th
USA -- Brittany Klein (Kerri Hanks) 79th

Lineups:
USA: 1-Valerie Henderson; 11-Meghan Schnur; 15-Becky Sauerbrunn, 4-Nikki Krzysik, 7-Katherine Reynolds; 10-Yael Averbuch (12 Kasey Moore, 75), 13-Tina DiMartino (6-Lorraine Quinn, 82), 9-Brittany Klein, 5-Kiki Bosio (17-Katy Frierson, 82); 8-India Trotter (16-Katy Larkin, 72), 3-Ella Masar (14-Kerri Hanks, 52).

ENG: 13-Marie Hourihan; 3-Michelle Hickmott, 6-Kylie Davies, 5-Kelly Lawrence, 2-Stephanie Houghton (14-Kimberly Dixon, 45), 8-Rachel Williams, 4-Danielle Buet, 7-Dunia Susi, 9-Gemma Davisson (18-Sian Larkin, 70), 10-Natasha Dowie (16-Carla Cantrell, 72), 17-Rebecka Hall (12-Sophie Perry, 56).

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