The U.S. Under-17 women’s youth national team opened its World Cup Qualifying campaign at the 2022 Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship with a 20-0 victory against Grenada in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic on Saturday night.
The 20 goals set a record for most goals in a World Cup qualifying match for a U.S. women’s national team at any level. Led by four-goal performances from midfielders Shae Harvey and Charlotte Kohler plus a hat-trick from forward Melina Rebimbas, the USA scored nine goals in the first half and 11 in the second.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which put U.S. Soccer’s youth national team programming on hold for a long stretch, this game marked the first U-17 international match for every U.S. player who stepped on the field.
The USA looked sharp in the attack in the opening minutes, creating several dangerous chances early on before Rebimbas opened the floodgates in the eighth minute. The USA doubled the lead three minutes later as Harvey scored her first with a volley from close range before defender Mia Oliaro added her first of two goals in the 17th minute.
The team displayed a lethal touch in its attacking play from the wings, scoring three goals in the span of 10 minutes beginning in the 20th, which included Kohler’s first of the night and two from Harvey. Forward Nicollette Kiorpes scored her lone goal of the night in the 34th minute before Rebimbas tallied her second just one minute later. An own goal from Grenada in the 43rd minute gave the USA a 9-0 lead heading into the break after a first 45which was played in mostly pouring rain.
The USA’s day was far from over as Kohler opened the second half with two goals to round out her hat trick in the 48th and 49th minutes before Rebimbas completed her own in the 55th with a strike from 15 yards out. In the 59th , Harvey scored her fourth of the night as the team tied the previous record for most goals scored in a U-17 World Cup qualifier with its 13th of the night. Just one minute later, Oliaro did the honors of breaking the record with a one-touch shot from six yards out. Four minutes later, center back Cameron Roller added her name to the score sheet.
A handful of USA substitutions proceeded to make their mark on the game as midfielder Claire Hutton scored a brace with goals in the 71st and in stoppage time, while midfielder Lauren Martinho, and forward Amalia Villareal added goals in the 76th and 81st minutes, respectively. Kohler then rounded out the night in the second minute of stoppage time with a strong effort to shield off her defender and bury a powerful strike off the goalkeeper’s gloves and across the line for the team’s remarkable 20th goal.
The win also marked the first victoryfor Natalia Astrain, who was appointed as U-17 USWYNT head coach on Nov. 17, 2021 and was coaching in her first U-17 international match.
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