U20 Women Book Ticket to Finals

Take Down Germany, 1-0

December 5, 2008

COQUIMBO, Chile – The U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team booked a place in the championship game of the U20 Women’s World Cup with a hard-fought 1-0 semifinal victory over Germany on Thursday.

The US will face North Korea, which dramatically defeated France, 2-1, in the championship game this Sunday, the first time the Americans have been in the final of the Under-20 tournament since winning the championship in 2002 when it was held as an Under-19 event.

Sydney Leroux

USA's Sydney Leroux scored the game-winning goal on Thursday. (Hernan Contreras/isiphotos.com).

The lone goal of the match came in the 21st minute from forward Sydney Leroux, who knocked in her team-leading fifth goal of the tournament, putting her atop the leader board for the Golden Boot, awarded to the tournament’s top scorer. U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher and her strong defensive unit combined to earn the team's fourth shutout performance in five games of the tournament.

The match started on full throttle, as both teams took good chances very early in the match. Germany earned a corner kick in just the second minute that led to a Katharina Baunach shot, but her volley sailed high. In the ninth minute, midfield Nikki Washington sprinted down her right flank and hit a cross that clanked off the cross bar.

Washington was dangerous all night on the wing, consistently beating defenders on the dribble and into space. It was one of several runs in the first half that led to the winning goal. Washington made a great hesitation move to get around two defenders while pushing the ball past them down the right wing. She hit a low, driven ball across the top of the six yard box that Leroux met on a full sprint, sliding to get a foot on the ball and knock it into the lower right corner.

Germany never stopped pushing for an equalizer and its best chance of the night came in second half stoppage time. After two consecutive corners, Schmidt got forward at the top of the penalty area and with a lot of room in front of her, smacked a hard shot. It skipped low towards the left corner and nearly slid under Naeher, but the U.S. ‘keeper, as she has done all tournament, secured the ball and ended Germany’s hopes for a place in the final.

The USA-North Korea clash is a rematch of the 2008 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup Final held three weeks ago in New Zealand. At that tournament, the USA also defeated Germany in the semifinals but fell to North Korea in overtime in the championship game.

U.S. WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM MATCH REPORT

Scoring Summary:
USA – Sydney Leroux (Nikki Washington) 21st minute

Lineups:
USA: 1-Alyssa Naeher; 6-Elli Reed, 15-Lauren Fowlkes, 17-Nikki Marshall, 3-Meghan Klingenberg; 11-Christine Nairn, 14-Keelin Winters (capt.), 8-Becky Edwards; 16-Nikki Washington, 13-Alex Morgan (10-Michelle Enyeart, 59), 19-Sydney Leroux (5-Kierstan Dallstream, 89)

GER: 1-Alisa Vetterlein; 3-Katharina Baunach, 4-Josephine Henning, 5-Carolin Schiewe (capt.), 7-Bianca Schmidt, 8-Nathalie Bock (13-Lisa Schwabb, 57), 9-Isabel Kerschowski (15-Julia Simic, 74), 11-Nicole Banecki, 14-Verena Faisst, 16-Sylvie Banecki, 18-Stephanie Goddard (2-Monique Kerschowski,46)

Return from U20 Women Book Ticket to Finals to US National Teams

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