There’s no point trying to compare the Nordic Cup to the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, because the former will come up short to the latter every time, but for the team members who would have been at the bigger event in Trinidad later this year, there was some consolation to be found in winning the Nordic Cup last weekend in Denmark.

However you look at it, Mike Dickey’s group picked up a solid foursome of wins at the event, further cementing the fact that it’s a team which could have contended for top honors at the World Cup if it had only managed to qualify in the high-risk format employed by CONCACAF (the team dropped a winner-take all event final on penalties to Canada after blowing through the group stage with a set of lopsided victories. Only two qualifiers from the event advanced).

“I’m happy for the kids,” Dickey said. “They’ve been working hard for all these years and it was good that they got an opportunity to play some of the top countries and come out winners. It’s a good event.”

The U.S. took a 6-0 win over The Netherlands, then a 3-0 victory over Denmark, before closing group stage with a 2-1 win against Norway. In the final, Dickey’s squad beat Germany 2-0 on goals from Stephanie Amack and Kodi Lavrusky, the latter from a nice setup by Lindsay Horan.

Dickey said the final two matches were the most difficult, for different reasons.

“Germany was very hard. It was a final, and if you know anything about the Germans you know they are going to come prepared, ready to prey on your weaknesses. You don’t know which way they will attack you,” Dickey said. “Against Norway we had a better idea of what they would do, playing one center forward. The match against Norway was physically tougher, but Germany soccer-wise presented some more problems for us to solve, which thankfully we did.”

In the win vs. Norway, the U.S. got goals from Amber Munerlyn and Joanna Boyles, from So Cal Blues and CASL respectively, two of the four 95s on the trip. Summer Green (Michigan Hawks) and Carissa Miller (Sereno SC) are the others.

Goalscorers in the rout vs. Holland included Reilly Parker, Stephanie Amack, Ashley Spivey, Lindsey Horan and Isabel Farrell, with another knocked in by a  Dutch defender. Horan, Lavrusky and Munerlyn were the goalscorers against hosts Denmark.

Dickey said the first mission with this blended group was to form a team atmosphere before the event started.

“I told them the first time we got together that the first priority was to become a team. We had to do that in training, outside training and basically every chance we had to build team chemistry,” he said. “We did that first and then worked to establish a style of play for the personnel that we had.

“We knew in Europe that the trend there is more to play more players in midfield. You find you can get outnumbered at times in the middle of the field,” he continued. “So we used two central midfielders, three attacking players and one center forward, a 4-2-3-1, and basically layered our attacks.”

Dickey mentioned holding midfielders Ashley Spivey of Baltimore Bays and Danielle Weatherholt of So Cal Blues as having been instrumental to the team’s success.

“They really were critical for us,” he said. “They had a tremendous work rate and a real ability to win balls from the other team and did just what we needed. We were asking the three players in front of them to attack a lot in combination with the center forward, and these two also had to help when our defenders went forward. Ashley especially seemed keep everybody linked from front to back with her work rate, plus she’s very good in the air which was important especially against Norway.”

Dickey added that Joanna Boyles, Maya Theuer (San Diego Surf) and Haley Washburn (San Juan SC) also deputized ably in the holding mid role.

He cited a couple of other standouts in the context of a good overall performance.

“I was glad we able to use all 18 players. Everybody contributed,” he said. “Cari Roccaro (Albertson Fury) was our center back and captain and she was terrific all tournament long. She was very consistent defensively and also gave us some spark in the attack going forward from center back, kind of like a Lucio (Brazilian men’s player). She was one of the best players in the tournament. More than one opposing coach mentioned her.

“Lindsey Horan (Colorado Rush) was also quite good. She scored a goal, created a goal and 1v1 she is very good at drawing a foul for a free kick. She’s a real handful.”

Dickey said the next event for 94s will be, along with the 93s, at Sunrise, Florida in mid-August where the team should get to play some international matches vs. other U17 teams preparing for the World Cup. The 95s will have a separate camp in Sunrise immediately following that one.while the 93s and 94s will begin a new cycle for the U18 and U20 teams (the current U20s begin their World Cup this week in Germany). The National ID camp for 1996 birth year players will be in Portland the first week of August, followed by a smaller camp for that age group at Home Depot Center in September.

Roster for U.S. U17 WNT (94s and 95s) at Nordic Cup in Denmark (courtesy U.S. Soccer)

GOALKEEPERS (2):  Carissa Miller (Sereno SC; Phoenix, Ariz), Kate Rowland (San Juan SC; Vacaville, CA)
DEFENDERS (6): Stephanie Amack (Mustang Blast; Pleasanton, Calif.), Laura Liedle (San Diego Surf; San Diego, Calif.), Katie Naughton (Sockers FC; Arlington Heights, Ill.), Cari Roccaro (Albertson Fury; East Islip, N.Y.), Maya Theuer (San Diego Surf; Carlsbad, Calif.), Haley Washburn (San Juan SC; Folsom, Calif.)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Joanna Boyles (CASL; Raleigh, N.C.), Isabel Farrell (Crossfire; Bellevue, Wash.), Summer Green (Michigan Hawks; Milford, Mich.), Reilly Parker (Mustang Blast; Danville, Calif.), Kelli Hubly (Sockers FC; Elk Grove, Il.), Ashley Spivey (Baltimore Soccer Bays; Baltimore, Md.), Danielle Weatherholt (So Cal Blues; Capistrano Beach, Calif.)
FORWARDS (3):  Lindsey Horan (Colorado Rush; Golden, Colo.), Kodi Lavrusky (Legends FC; Yucaipa, Calif.), Amber Munerlyn (So Cal Blues; Corona, Calif.)