ALAJUELA, Costa Rica(June 6, 2025) – The U.S. U-20 Women’s National Team fell to Canada 1-0 in the semifinals of the2025 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship. It was just the fourth-ever loss for the USA at this competition dating back to 2002.
With no Third-Place Match in this year’s tournament, the USA heads home having already qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup by advancing to the semifinal after winning its first two games in Group A. The USA had won a record seven Concacaf championships at this age level, including six of the last eight. The loss marked the first time the USA has not advanced to the title game of this tournament in the past 12 Concacaf U-20 championships.
The 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup will be held from September 5–27 next year in Poland.
It was an end-to-end match with Canada’s powerful striker Annabelle Chukwu, who plays at Notre Dame, providing most of the danger for her side. The USA controlled 65% of the possession, had more corner kicks (5-3) and outshot Canada 12-9 for the game. Canada did have a higher expected goals over the USA – 0.94 to 0.45 – but the USA had an edge in shots on goal at 5-2. Unfortunately for the young Americans, one of those two went into the net, and USA could not find a way through a hard-tackling and gritty Canada defense and an in-form goalkeeper.
Canada broke the deadlock in the 56th minute as Teegan Melenhorst chipped a short pass behind the U.S. defense to Léa Larouche, who slotted home from six yards out into the lower right corner past charging U.S. goalkeeper Caroline Birkel.
The USA had its chances. Forward Mary Long came on in the 61st minute in place of Izzy Engle and smashed a left-footed shot off the crossbar in the 71st minute. That ignited a tremendous push for an equalizer in the last 20 minutes plus seven more of stoppage time, but the USA could not beat experienced Canadian goalkeeper Noelle Henning, who played a solid match while making five saves.
An 87th-minute shot from midfielder Linda Ullmark tested Henning and she had to parry the bouncing ball away for a corner kick. In the sixth minute of stoppage time, a hard shot from Ullmark challenged Henning again, but the diving ‘keeper was once again up to the task.
Forward Chloe Ricketts, who came on at halftime, created some problems for Canada down the left flank, but in the end the Americans could not produce a goal and were shut for just the second time in the history of this tournament. The only other time the USA failed to score at a Concacaf U-20 championship was also to Canada in the championship game of the 2008 tournament, also a 1-0 loss. The USA has played 66 total matches in this tournament in its history.
Additional Notes:
- Angel City FC midfielder Kennedy Fuller was not on the roster today as, due to a prior agreement with her club, she returned to ACFC for this weekend’s NWSL play.
- There were numerous players in the U-20 WNT pool currently playing in the National Women’s Soccer League who are age-eligible for this roster but were not available for this event. Those include Jordyn Bugg (Seattle Reign FC), Ainsley McCammon (Seattle Reign FC), Emeri Adames (Seattle Reign FC), Claire Hutton (Kansas City Current), Melanie Barcenas (San Diego Wave) and Trinity Armstrong (San Diego Wave). All of them have World Cup experience for the USA at the U-17 or U-20 levels or both.
- Every player on the U.S. roster earned their first U-20 cap or caps in this tournament, except for defender Aven Alvarez, who had two previous U-20 caps coming into the competition.
-U.S. UNDER-20 WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM MATCH REPORT-
Match: U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team vs. Canada U-20 WNT
Date: June 6, 2025
Competition: Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship
Venue: Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Attendance: 39
Kickoff: 9:30 a.m. local (11:30 a.m. ET)
Weather: 76 degrees and cloudy
| Scoring Summary |
1 |
2 |
F |
| USA |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| CAN |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| CAN – Léa Larouche | 56th minute |
Lineups:
USA: 1-Caroline Birkel; 2-Katie Scott (15-Leena Powell, 77), 17-Edra Bello, 4-Abby Mills, 3-Aven Alvarez; 16-Kennedy Ring (13-Peyton McGovern, 46), 6-Grace Restovich, 10-Linda Ullmark; 11-Sealey Strawn (7-Chloe Ricketts, 46), 9-Izzy Engle (Capt.) (19-Mary Long, 61), 20-Mya Townes (18-Ashlyn Puerta, 83)
Substitutes Not Used: 5-Bella Ayscue, 12-Kealey Titmuss, 14-Emma Johnson, 21-Sonoma Kasica
Head Coach: Carrie Kveton
CAN: 1-Noelle Henning; 2-Jadea Collin (8-Liana Tarasco, 57), 4-Ibra Oching, 5-Janet Okeke, 14-Stephanie Schoeley; 6-Olivia Chisholm, 10-Jeneva Hernandez Gray (20-Sienna Gibson, 46), 13-Teegan Melenhorst (19-Nikolina Istocki, 87), 17-Victoria Rocci (12-Inés Naourani, 57); 9-Annebelle Chukwu (Capt.), 11-Léa Larouche
Substitutes Not Used: 3-April Lantaigne, 7-Katie Ozard, 15-Adriana Bianchin, 16-Juliette Perreault, 18- Sofia Cortes-Browne, 20-Sienna Gibson, 21-Olivia Busby
Head Coach: Cindy Tye
Stats Summary: USA / CAN
Shots: 12 / 9
Shots on Goal: 5 / 2
Saves: 1 / 5
Corner Kicks: 5 / 3
Fouls: 5 / 12
Offside: 2 / 1
| Scoring Summary |
1 |
2 |
F |
| USA |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| CAN |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| CAN – Stephanie Schoeley (Caution) | 37th minute |
| USA – Edra Bello (Caution) | 42 |
| USA – Abby Mills (Caution) | 90+2 |
Officials:
Referee: Janeishka Caban (PUR)
Assistant Referee 1: Ivett Santiago (CUB)
Assistant Referee 2: Lidia Ayala (SLV)
Fourth Official: Kedeen Foster (CAY)
