The U.S. Under-19 Women’s National Team defeated Iran 5-0 to sweep all three games and take first place at the CFA International Women’s Youth Football Tournament.

Forward Alexa Spaanstra was named the tournament MVP after scoring one goal and two assists against Iran. Claudia Dickey was named the Best Goalkeeper after picking up wins in the USA’s first two matches.

The USA went into the game needing a victory or a tie to win the tournament after defeating Japan 1-0 (Sept. 10) and China 2-1 (Sept. 12). The red, white and blue scored twice in the first half and three times in the second to finish atop the four-team tournament. 

The match marked just the second meeting between the USA and Iran in women’s soccer. The first came in April of 2016 when the countries met at the U-16 level in Italy at the 1st Women’s Tournament Delle Nazioni. The USA won that historic match, 6-0. 

The USA opened the scoring in the 13th minute as Spaanstra sent a cross into the penalty area to defender Shae Holmes, who sent a looping header over the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Zahra Khajavi into the top right corner.

The USA made it 2-0 in the 21st minute when, for the second time in the tournament, Spaanstra stole a back pass from the goalkeeper. This time she picked off a pass headed to the right back and chipped the goalkeeper from just outside the penalty area.

It stayed 2-0 until the 67th minute when forward Jordan Canniff slipped a pass between two defenders to cutting defender Kate Wiesner toward the right end line. Off her first touch, Wiesner crossed into the center to sprinting midfielder Coriana Dyke who struck her shot first-time into the bottom right corner.

In the 77th minute midfielder Brianna Pinto, who entered the match at halftime, scored her second goal of the tournament (after scoring the game-winner vs. Japan), running onto a cross from the left side by Holmes to head it into the top left corner.

Canniff finished the scoring four minutes from time. Spaanstra split two defenders with a pass deep inside the penalty area and Canniff drove her first-time shot into the right side of the net. Meagan McClelland picked up the shutout in goal for the USA.

U.S. U-19 WNT head coach Keri Sarver called up 22 players for this trip, 16 born in 2000 (the birth year for this age group of U-19s), three born in 1999 and three players born in 2001. All the players on this roster are age-eligible for the team that will attempt to qualify for the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup to be held in France. The age cut-off for that World Cup is players born on or after January 1, 1998.

 

U.S. Under-19 Women's National Team Match Report

Match: United States U-19 WNT vs Iran U-20 WNT 
Date: September 14, 2017
Competition: CFA International Women’s Youth Football Tournament Duyun 2017
Venue: Qiannan Fitness Center Main Stadium; Dunyun, China
Kickoff: 3:00 p.m. CST (3:00 a.m. ET)
Attendance: 1,000
Weather: 70 degrees and cloudy

 

Scoring Summary:   1          2          F         
USA                             2          3          5
IRN                              0          0          0 

 

USA – Shae Holmes (Alexa Spaanstra)       13th minute
USA – Alexa Spaanstra                         21
USA – Coriana Dyke (Kate Wiesner)           67
USA – Brianna Pinto (Shae Holmes)      77
USA – Jordan Canniff (Alexa Spaanstra) 86

 

Lineups:
USA: 22-Meagan McClelland; 4-Naomi Girma (capt.) (5-Sydney Dawson, 63), 14-Maycee Bell, 23-Madelyn Desiano (11-Kate Wiesner, 46), 3-Shae Holmes, 20-Coriana Dyke, 21-Emily Gray (8-Brianna Pinto, 46), 19-Jenna Nighswonger (15-Astrid Wheeler, 26), 17-Jordan Canniff, 9-Alexa Spaanstra, 13-Aleigh Gambone (7-Summer Yates, 72)
Subs Not Used:1-Claudia Dickey, 2-Brianna Martinez, 6-Jaelin Howell, 10-Sophia Smith, 16-Rachel, 18-Jordan Brewster,
Head Coach: Keri Sarver

IRN: 1-Zahra Khajavi; 5-Mitra Mohammadi (6-Fatemeh Ghohrood, 23), 4-Ghazaleh Salehipour, 2-Zohreh Jalali, 7-Elham Anafjeh (capt.) (14-Fatemeh Makhdoumi, 77), 11-Sana Sadeghi (21-Golnoosh Khosravi, 35), 16-Maryam Izadpanah, 8-Fatemeh Geraelisheikh, 10-Fatemeh Ghasemi (3-Fatemeh Amiri, 88), 15-Seyedeh Hosseini (24-Annahita Rezai, 71), 9-Zahra Khodabakhshi
Subs Not Used: 18-Asma Pakdel, 20-Hajar Varnosfaderani, 12-Mina Kouhi, 13-Seyedeh Khodaparasti, 23-Yasmin Rezai, 34-Zhinio Rostami
Head Coach: Leila Vaghari

 

Stats Summary: USA / IRN 
Shots: 29 / 3
Shots on Goal: 20 / 1
Saves: 1 / 14
Corner Kicks: 10 / 0
Fouls: 6 / 1
Offside: 3 / 2