USA opens 2023 Pan American Games with 6-0 win over Bolivia

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 5^th minute while also tallying in the 23^rd and 69^th 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 20^th 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 59^th and 69^th 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)                       5^th 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)                    90^th minute

Officials:
Referee: Stefani Escobar (VEN)
Assistant Referee 1: Elibith Higuera (VEN)
Assistant Referee 2: Francis Garcia (VEN)
Fourth Official: Gustavo Rossi (ARG)