CORAL SPRINGS, FLORIDA – Mike Dickey’s U15 Girls National Team played under the lights again Wednesday, drawing 0-0 with an older Costa Rican team in a match played in a steady rain on a high school football field.

The match was the sole survivor Wednesday in the schedule for the U.S. Youth Soccer Girls ODP Interregional, as heavy rains made the fields here in South Florida unplayable, pushing most of the contests back to Thanksgiving morning (TDS will have a full report Friday). This game was moved from the morning to a nighttime kickoff at a very narrow field with artificial turf.

Play was congested early on; over time the rhythm of the game improved and both teams forged some pretty decent chances.

Costa Rica was denied on their two best opportunities at goal in the 2nd half by KCFC Alliance goalkeeper Caroline Stanley. Stanley, who is here purely to audition for next year’s CONCACAF Qualifying Tournament for the FIFA U17 World Cup, saved a penalty plus the point blank follow up and then made an acrobatic fingertip save of a piledriver from 35 yards.

Stanley said a little reversal of reverse psychology was the key to the penalty save.

“First I tried to have her look at me and get in her head a little bit. She was playing into me really how I wanted her to. She was looking directly at me. She kept glancing up to her left, to my right, so I had a feeling she’s not going to go there,” she said. “How she lined up her body she made it look like she was going to go there, so I know from playing the Costa Ricans they are very crafty, very sneaky on the field. So I had a gut feeling she was going to my left so I kind of took a step to my left and then went to my right to make her freak out and I went to my left and thank God she hit it there. My goalkeeper trainers have always taught me to get right up and to get up without your hands so your hands are free, so I just got right on it.”

On the long range bomb, Stanley credited U.S. goalkeeper coach Amy Griffin.

“Coach Amy helped me on that so much. We were late to the game so I was supposed to play the 1st half. I was warming up in a puddle back there, but you have to ignore those little distractions,” Stanley said. “Coach Amy always says ‘Watch they will hit it from outside the 18.’ And that’s why I was ready for that one.”

The U.S. had some chances as well and one effective weapon was 2nd half left wing Reilly Parker of Sereno SC in the Phoenix area. While the speed of the turf and the narrow field seemed to give the squad some issues, particularly in the 1st half, Parker was able to attack effectively down the wing, running onto through balls or dribbling.

“At home I always play on this turf so I was more used to it. As a team I think we came together more in the 2nd half. It’s always hard in the 1st half just trying to get a feel for it, and I think our girls did great in the 1st half. They held them off. In the 2nd half we were getting some good through balls and more opportunities. They were pushing us more and Caroline had some amazing saves, but we came together more. That game could have gone either way.”

Perhaps Parker’s best moment came when she chased down a through ball from Sandra Yu in the closing minutes. She put a move on one defender and then bulled past a 2nd before hitting a cross that teammate Ashley Meier met with a hard volley, but the Costa Rican goalkeeper made a great save of her own to keep the ball out. Another chance came when Haley Washburn served a good corner that Katie Naughton headed just over the crossbar.

Standing out in the 1st half were the back four of Morgan Andrews, Maya Theuer, Kathlene Bobbitt and Laura Liedle. Andrews was magnificent in the air, while Theuer again took a take-no-prisoners approach to tackling. 2nd half subs Katie Naughton, Kelli Hubly and Lauren Bernard also performed well in the back for the U.S.

The team will now close the camp with an intrasquad scrimmage Thursday morning, their final match with Region IV ODP being canceled due to so many games having to be played Thursday on the available fields. Parker admitted the team would like to keep at it rather than break camp.

“When you come in here and you tie three games, well you know you want to win” she said. “Our team has amazing chemistry. Everybody loves each other. Yeah we want to go back to our families but after this last game you kind of feel you’d like some more time.”

U15 Girls National Team Lineup

GK: Katelyn Rowland (Caroline Stanley)
D: Morgan Andrews (Kelli Hubly), Maya Theuer (Katie Naughton), Kathlene Bobbitt, Laura Liedle (Lauren Bernard)
M: Ashley Spivey (Sandra Yu), Ashley Meier, Lindsey Horan (Haley Washburn), Brittany Ratcliffe (Reilly Parker), Mariana Galvan (Courtney Raetzman, Gabrielle Galanti), Amber Munerlyn (Joanna Boyles)
Subs Not Used: Mckenzie Karas, Miranda Freeman, Jasmine Paterson