SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – The U.S. Under-20 women’s youth national team rolled past an overmatched Suriname 14-0 in the Round of 16 to begin the knockout stage of the 2022 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship on Friday.

In the quarterfinal on Tuesday, March 8 (4 p.m. local/3 p.m. ET), the USA will face the winner of tomorrow’s Round of 16 match between Haiti and Guyana.

The Americans scored in the first and final minutes of the match.

They tallied three goals in the first half, with the first coming after just 49 seconds from midfielder Emily Colton. Forward Andrea Kitahata added another on a penalty kick in the 18th minute and Talia DellaPeruta found the net in the 24th minutte.

Seventeen-year-old Suriname goalkeeper Latifah Moedjijo stood strong for her side and her saves kept the USA from putting up a higher score. She faced 66 shots, including 28 on goal, and made 14 saves. The U.S. averaged a shot every 82 seconds.

Suriname had all 11 players inside its own 25-yard line for almost the entire match and blocked a plethora of shots.

The floodgates opened early in the second half as the USA scored four goals in the opening nine minutes after the break to blow the game open, including two in the first two minutes after the break,. The Americans added an outburst of five goals in the last 10 minutes.

Kitahata completed her hat-trick with goals in the 46th and 52nd minutes while forward Michelle Cooper registered a second-half hat trick, completing it in the 90th minute. Two of the USA’s goals came off penalty kicks, Kitahata’s in the first half and another from center back Lilly Reale in the 67th minute. Forward Alyssa Thompson also scored her two goals in the second half.

Suriname earned its place in this match after winning Group D at the Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship Qualifiers last September in Curaçao, beating Grenada and Belize. Finishing atop that group earned Suriname a direct place in the Round of 16 at this final tournament.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.