USA opens 2023 Pan American Games with 6-0 win over Bolivia
Forward Ava McDonald Bags Hat Trick; Amalia Villarreal Scores Twice and Emeri Adames Scores Once
VIÑA DEL MAR, Chile (Oct. 22, 2023) – The U.S. Under-19 Women’s Youth National Team opened play in the 2023 Pan American Games with a dominating 6-0 victory over the full National Team of Bolivia.
Forward Ava McDonald opened the scoring in the 5th minute while also tallying in the 23rd and 69th minutes to record her first international hat trick. Forward Amalia Villarreal scored a goal in each half and forward Emeri Adames added a single score. Villarreal and Adames were both members of the U.S. team at the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup,
The Pan Am women’s soccer competition features two groups of four teams with the top two finishers in each group advancing to the semifinals. The USA continues Group B play against Costa Rica on Oct. 25 at Estadio Elias Figueroa (1 p.m. local / Noon ET) and then faces Argentina on Oct. 28 (3 p.m. local / 2 p.m. ET). The semifinals will be on Oct. 31 and the bronze and gold medal matches will be contested on Nov. 3.
Bolivia was a late replacement for Venezuela, which withdrew from the competition just a few days before the opening of the tournament and the South Americans were no match for the young Americans who piled up an 18-1 margin in shots.
The first goal came off a long ball from center back Nicki Fraser that flew over the top of the Bolivia defense to Adames who was making a run down the left side. She beat her defender and sent a cross to the far post finish where McDonald finished for the early lead.
The USA doubled its lead in the 20th minute as midfielder Charlotte Kohler won a tackle and toe-poked the ball to Villareal who split the center backs and buried a right-footed finish from just inside the penalty area.
Three minutes later it was 3-0 as midfielder and team captain Claire Hutton won a tackle inside the USA’s defensive half and played the ball to Villarreal who then found Ava McDonald streaking down the right side. McDonald took on the goalkeeper one-one-one and finished calmly from just outside the six-yard box.
The USA would add a fourth before the halftime whistle when defender Giselle Thompson picked up a loose ball at midfield and took on three Bolivian defenders before finding Adames, who herself beat two defenders in a foot race and smashed a left-footed shot that pinged off the post and into the net.
The USA finished off the game with goals in the 59th and 69th minutes, the first coming when Villarreal jumped on a slow back pass and cracked a first-time right-footed shot over the goalkeeper who was caught out of position.
The final score came when Kohler won a 50/50 ball in midfield and found forward Katie Shea Collins checking in front of the backline. Collins was able to turn and find McDonald making a run behind the back line for her to finish with the outside of her right foot to complete the hat trick.
The other group B match between Costa Rica and Argentina ended 0-0 meaning the USA is comfortably atop the group heading into the second match day. Group A features host Chile, Jamaica, Mexico and Paraguay.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- This is the first time since 2007 that U.S. Soccer has sent a women’s team to the Pan American Games, a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring Olympic summer sports.
- While the USA is facing teams consisting mostly of senior National Team players, the USA has brought a U-19 team featuring the younger part of the USA’s Under-20 Women’s National Team player pool. The entire roster has yet to enter college as the collegiate players in the U-20 pool are all currently embroiled in their college campaigns.
- Seven players on the roster played for the USA at the 2022 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, in which the USA dominated Nigeria before falling in penalty kicks in the quarterfinal, so they have some experience at a major world event.
- The U.S. players who played in the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup are defenders Nicki Fraser and Jordyn Bugg, midfielders Charlotte Kohler and Lauren Martinho, forwards Samantha Smith (who is a defender on this roster), Emeri Adames and Amalia Villarreal.
- All the players on the U.S. roster are age-eligible for the team that will compete in the 2024 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup about a year from now in Colombia. U.S. Under-19 WYNT head coach Carrie Kveton named a Pan Am roster with 15 players born in 2006 and five born in 2005. The age cut-off to play in the U-20 World Cup next year is players born on or after Jan. 1, 2004.
- U.S. Soccer has competed in two Pan American Games for women’s soccer, the first in 1999 in Canada when U.S. Under-18 Women’s National Team, coached by Jay Hoffman, won the gold medal with a 1-0 victory over an older Mexico squad.
- U.S. Soccer sent an Under-20 women’s team to the 2007 Pan American Games in Brazil and advanced to the gold medal game by beating the senior Canada Women’s National Team, 2-1, in the semifinal, but then ran into a buzzsaw host side at the famed Maracanã Stadium and lost 5-0 to earn a silver medal. That U.S. team, coached by future two-time Women’s World Cup champion Jill Ellis, featured several future USWNT stars, including Alyssa Naeher, Lauren Cheney, Kelley O’Hara and Tobin Heath.
-U.S. UNDER-20 WOMEN’S YOUTH NATIONAL TEAM MATCH REPORT-
Match: United States Under-19 Women’s Youth National Team vs. Bolivia Women’s National Team
Date: Oct. 22, 2023
Competition: 2023 Pan American Games – Group B
Venue: Estadio Sausalito; Viña del Mar, Chile
Attendance: 350
Weather: 60 degrees, cloudy
Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
USA 4 2 6
BOL 0 0 0
USA – Ava McDonald (Emeri Adames) 5th minute
USA – Amalia Villarreal (Charlotte Kohler) 20
USA -- Ava McDonald (Amalia Villarreal) 23
USA -- Emeri Adames (Gisele Thompson) 34
USA -- Amalia Villarreal 59
USA -- Ava McDonald (Katie Shea Collins) 69
Lineups:
USA: 2-Kealey Titmuss; 2-Gisele Thompson (3-Aven Alvarez, 62), 18-Jordyn Bugg, 5-Nicki Fraser (4-Lizzie Boamah, 46), 13-Samantha Smith; 6-Grace Restovich, 14-Claire Hutton (Capt.) (17-Eleanor Klinger, 46), 8-Charlotte Kohler; 7-Ava McDonald (15-Kendall Bodak,72), 9-Amalia Villarreal (11-Katie Shea Collins, 62), 16-Emeri Adames
Subs not used: 1-Sonoma Kasica, 10-Lauren Martinho,
Head Coach: Carrie Kveton
BOL: 1-Alba Tamara Salazar; 2-Ericka Morales (16-Lucerito Bravo, 77), 3-Aide Mendiola (4-Eyda Serrudo, 77), 5-Erika Salvatierra, 6-Yaneth Viveros (Capt.) (3-Sophie Perry, 90+1); 7-Mariana Ayala, 10-Briseyda Orellana, 11-Ana Huanca, 13-Ivana Siles (9-Carla Mendez, 46), 14-Ana Paula Rojas, 15-Samantha Alurralde
Subs not used: 12-Vanessa Ojeda, 17-Luana San Miguel
Head Coach: Rosana Gomez
Stats Summary: USA / BOL
Shots: 18 / 1
Shots on Goal: 12 / 0
Saves: 0 / 6
Corner Kicks: 5 / 0
Fouls: 3 / 6
Offside: 2 / 0
Misconduct Summary:
BOL – Yaneth Viveros (Caution) 90th minute
Officials:
Referee: Stefani Escobar (VEN)
Assistant Referee 1: Elibith Higuera (VEN)
Assistant Referee 2: Francis Garcia (VEN)
Fourth Official: Gustavo Rossi (ARG)