The U.S. Under-17 Women’s Youth National Team rolled past Curaçao, 11-0, in the Round of 16 at the 2022 Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship on Saturday in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic.
The Americans will face the winner of the Jamaica-Cuba match in the quarterfinal round at the qualifying tournament for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. The USA scored six goals in the first half and five in the second as six different players found the net, including hat-tricks from forwards Onyeka Gamero and Nicollette Kiorpes.
The USA’s quarterfinal (Jamaica and Cuba meet on Sunday) will take place on May 4 at Estadio Panamericano in San Cristóbal at 4 p.m. ET (Fox Soccer Plus and the ViX App in Spanish).
A U.S. goal after 23 seconds from Gamero signaled it would be a long afternoon for Curaçao, which qualified directly to the Round of 16 of this tournament by winning its pre-qualifying group and thus went one game and done in this competition. Kiorpes scored her first of the game in the seventh minute on a spectacular close-range finish with her heel and played provider on the third goal to forward Melina Rebimbas in the 11th minute.
Gamero’s goal was the fastest ever in tournament history for the USA.
The USA then tacked on three more goals before halftime as midfielder Lauren Martinho’s strike from distance slipped through the goalkeeper’s hands in the 29th minute. Midfielder and captain Mia Bhuta gave the keeper no chance to make a save with a sizzling 25-yard shot in 38th minute and then Gamero buried a breakaway chance two minutes later.
Bhuta’s goal, the first of her international career, made her the 14th player to score for the USA in this tournament over the first four games, tying a U.S. record for most players to score in a Concacaf U-17 qualifying tournament. All the previous tournaments were played with eight teams, and this is the first in which 20 nations are competing for the title.
The Americans’ seventh goal came via the penalty spot after Kiorpes was hacked down in the left side of the penalty area. She took the kick herself and converted easily to kick off the second-half scoring.
Defender Mia Oliaro added to the list of excellent strikes from distance in this match with a rocket from 28-yards out to make it 8-0 in the 58th minute and then Bhuta did her one better, striking from 34 yards to make it 9-0 in the 67th minute.
Gamero and Kiorpes finished off their hat-tricks in the 73rd and 84th minutes, respectively, for the final score line. The goals made them the sixth and seventh U.S. players in the tournament to score three or more goals in a match, joining Rebimbas, Shae Harvey, Charlotte Kohler, Amalia Villarreal and Claire Hutton.
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