The Under-17 U.S. women’s national team booked a spot in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup and advanced to the final of the CONCACAF Women’s U-17 Championship with a dominant 3-0 win over Canada in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Friday.
The young Americans were on the attack from the opening whistle and made life difficult for their northern neighbors as put pressure on their goal. They racked up a staggering 23 shots compared to three from Canada.
Melina Rebimbas opened the scoring in the 18th minute when she received a pass from teammate Nicollette Kiorpes to fire her shot into the back of the net from point-blank range. The only thing that prevented them from scoring more goals in the first half was Canada hunkering down in the back and absorbing wave after wave of attacks.
However, they couldn’t withstand it much longer as the U.S. made it 2-0 in the 58th minute when Rebimbas worked with another teammate Lauren Martinho in the area before slotting the ball past the goalkeeper at the near post.
Onyeka Gamero closed out the scoring in the 78th minute when she worked with Amalia Villarreal to regain possession of the ball before sending a powerful left-footed shot into the goal.
A resounding win for the ladies as they can look ahead to playing the World Cup in India. But first, they have to finish things up in the regional tournament as they will take on Mexico in the final on Sunday.
