MIAMI, Florida – The United States defeated Canada to earn a first-place finish in Group B of the 2024 Concacaf Women’s Under-17 Championship on Tuesday at the headquarters of the Mexican Football Federation in Toluca, Mexico.
Following the results of Tuesday’s matches, the U.S. will face Haiti in Friday’s semifinals, while Canada will go up against host nation and Group A winners Mexico.
United States 5-0 Canada
The U.S. defeated Canada 5-0 to claim the top spot in Group B.
The U.S. got themselves on the scoreboard early, with Melanie Barcenas finding the back of the net in just the ninth minute with a powerful right-footed shot from outside the area.
The U.S. continued to hammer the Canadian defense and had three shots strike the woodwork in the first half, as Ainsley McCammon, Rylee McLanahan and Jordyn Hardeman all came within a whisker of scoring.
After many narrow misses in the first 45 minutes, the U.S. found the target early and often in the second half with three goals in the first 14 minutes after the restart. Alexandra Pfeiffer doubled the lead to 2-0 in the 51’ off a pass from Leena Powell following a defensive mistake from Canada.
Powell then made it 3-0 in the 57’ when she turned in a rebound off a Pfeiffer shot. Kennedy Fuller stretched it to 4-0 in the 59’ by sweeping in a shot after a bobble from Canada GK Noelle Henning.
The scoreboard read 5-0 after Y-Lan Nguyen’s composed finish in the 73’, which would serve as the final score of the affair for the defending champions.
Panama 4-2 Puerto Rico
Group B came to a close with Panama defeating Puerto Rico 4-2 in the final match of the tournament for both sides.
Puerto Rico came storming out of the gates and minutes after hitting the crossbar, Katsi Bengoa stroked home a strong left-footed shot from outside the area for a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute.
But Panama would respond in the 25’ when Mia Gonzalez took advantage of a lapse from the Puerto Rican and finished to equalize at 1-1. The momentum was with Panama and a misplay from Puerto Rico GK Trishelle Lopez allowed Yuliana Tejera to swoop in and score to hand Panama a 2-1 lead right before halftime.
Panama kept their foot on the gas and a lightning-quick run from Alison Onodera down the left wing ended with finish into net and a 3-1 lead in the 49’.
It was time for Puerto Rico to respond and the Panama lead was cut to 3-2 in the 65’ thanks to a good right-footed finish from Olivia Bevilacqua.
Tejeda has another trick up her sleeve, though, and she fired in a shot into the top right corner of net to restore Panama’s two-goal advantage to 4-2 in the 75’, which held until the final whistle.
