SAN RAFAEL, Costa Rica (March 22, 2026) – The U.S. U-17 Women’s National Team defeated Puerto Rico, 4-0, to win its third consecutive match and take first place in Group B at the Final Round of the Concacaf Women’s U-17 Qualifiers. The group title earned the USA a berth to the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
Forward Maddie DiMaria (from the penalty spot) and midfielder Mia Corona scored first-half goals while forward Mak Whitham and midfielder Taylor Morrell both came off the bench at halftime to score as the USA patiently broke down a gritty Puerto Rico side to book its ticket to the U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco this fall.
After making nine changes to the starting lineup from the first game to the second, U.S. head coach Ciara Crinion started eight of the players who were in the XI for the first game, but inserted Sophia Ahrens into the center defense, Grace Murray into the midfield and Avellina Saunders in goal.
The USA scored 32 goals in the tournament and allowed zero. Puerto Rico had conceded just one goal in its first two games heading into this contest, but the USA quadrupled that number by the time the clock hit 90 minutes.
As usual in the Concacaf women’s youth competitions, Puerto Rico fielded a team made up almost entirely of players who were born — and currently play club soccer — in the USA.
The USA went into the match needing a win or a tie to take first place in the group, and while Puerto Rico put up much more of a fight than Bermuda (a 19-0 U.S. win) and Haiti (a 9-0 U.S. win), the young Americans still controlled the match to earn their World Cup berth.
It took a penalty kick to get the USA on the board as left back Kendra Hansen burst into the penalty box on the left side and Puerto Rico defender Mía Colón tripped her. The referee immediately pointed to the spot, and DiMaria stepped up to coolly give the USA a 1-0 lead in the 21st minute.
Once the U.S. scored, it behooved Puerto Rico to defend with fervor and keep the score as low as possible with hopes that its six points and a superior goal difference would be enough to earn a World Cup berth as the best second-place team over the three groups.
And defend it, did. Playing a compact 4-5-1 formation, Puerto Rico rarely ventured into the U.S. half with possession but did well to pack its defensive third with players, making it hard for the USA to find space and create quality scoring chances.
The USA unlocked the Puerto Rico defense in the 36th minute as Corona scored a beautiful goal to make it 2-0, meaning Puerto Rico now needed three goals to win the group, an unlikely prospect for a team that managed just four total shots on the afternoon. Puerto Rico goalkeeper Victoria Moore, who plays for the Florida Kraze Crush, played a fine match while making four saves.
Whitham scored her fifth goal off the tournament, an absolute banger in the 50th minute, and Morrell added the fourth goal after a beautiful pass from Corona in the 55th set her up for the score.
U.S. goalkeeper Avellina Saunders earned the shutout and was called into action just once but came through with flying colors, making a great leaping save on Aleeya Olmo’s drive in the 64th minute to push the shot over the bar for a corner kick. Off the ensuring corner kick, Puerto Rico hit the left post on a header, but that was as close as the islanders got to a goal.
Three more teams from Concacaf will qualify for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup upon the completion of the matches in Groups A and C.
Goal Scoring Rundown:
USA – MADDIE DiMARIA (PENALTY KICK), 21st minute: Left back Kendra Hansen was brought down in the left side of the penalty area by Puerto Rico defender Mía Colón and DiMaria stepped up to bury the spot kick for her third goal of the tournament. USA 1, PUR 0
USA – MIA CORONA (MADDIE DiMARIA), 36th minute: The second goal was a thing of beauty as the USA knocked the ball around at pace in the attacking third, freeing up DiMaria on the right side. Her cross on the ground found Corona near the penalty spot. She collected the ball and spun skillfully toward the goal before smacking her left-footed shot into the right side from 13 yards out for the USA’s 30th goal of the tournament. USA 2, PUR 0
USA – MAK WHITHAM (MADDIE DiMARIA), 50th minute: DiMaria, in the right side of the penalty area, played a short square pass to Whitham, who took one touch to prep the ball and then drove her shot into the upper left corner from a semi-tight angle to effectively end the game. USA 3, PUR 0
USA – TAYLOR MORRELL (MIA CORONA), 55th minute: Corona slipped a pass behind the defense to Morrell, who easily finished with her left foot into the left side of the net from 12 yards out straight away. USA 4, PUR 0
Additional Notes:
- This is the second year of the new Concacaf qualifying format for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. Last year, the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup began its run of being staged annually and expanded from 16 to 24 nations. Therefore, instead of a qualifying tournament in which the top three Concacaf finishers advance to the U-17 Women’s World Cup, 12 teams were drawn into three groups of four teams each with the winner of each group and the best second place team qualifying for the World Cup, set for the fall in Morocco.
- Midfielder Mia Corona captained the USA for the second time in the tournament.
- The U.S. U-17s scored on four of their eight shots on goal and outshot Puerto Rico, 31-4.
- Maddie DiMaria’s goal gave her three for the tournament and seven in 13 U-17 caps. She also had two assists in the match.
- Mak Whitham’s goal upped her international goal total to seven in eight U-17 caps, and it was her fifth of the tournament.
- Taylor Morrell’s goal was her fourth of the tournament and sixth in just four U-17 caps.
- Deus Stanislaus ended as the USA’s leading scorer in the tournament with six goals while Whitham had 5, and Giselle Aguilar and Morrell had four each.
- Eleven different players scored the USA’s 32 goals in the tournament. Nine different players had assists.
- DiMaria led the USA in assists during the tournament with five while Corona had four.
- Outside back Gigi Zuniga was the only U.S. player to start all three matches of the Final Round Qualifiers. She played a full 90 in the first and third matches of the tournament.
- Loradana Paletta started her second game of the tournament. At 15 years old, the USA’s youngest player is playing up two age groups. Her first match with the U-17s was in July of 2025. She likely would have made the roster for the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup but at 14 years old, she was not age-eligible for the tournament.
- Players born on or after Jan. 1, 2009, are age-eligible for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. Seventeen players on this roster were born in 2009, three in 2010 and one, Paletta, was born in 2011. She is age-eligible for the next three U-17 Women’s World Cup tournaments.
- The USA becomes the fourth country to qualify for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, joining host Morocco, New Zealand and Samoa which have qualified from Oceania via the 2025 OFC U-16 Women's Championship.
- The USA qualified for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in 2008 (a tournament in which it made the World Cup Final), 2012, 2016, 2018, 2022, 2024 (a tournament in which it finished third) and 2025.
-U.S. UNDER-17 WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM MATCH REPORT-
Match: U.S. Under-17 Women’s National Team vs. Puerto Rico U-17 WNT
Date: March 22, 2026
Competition: Concacaf Women’s U-17 Qualifiers – Group B
Venue: Costa Rican Football Federation – Field #1; San Rafael, Costa Rica
Attendance: 174
Kickoff: 10:06 a.m. local (12:06 p.m. ET)
Weather: 73 degrees, sunny
| Scoring Summary |
1 |
2 |
F |
| USA |
2 |
2 |
4 |
| PUR |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| USA – Maddie DiMaria (Penalty Kick) | 21st minute |
| USA – Mia Corona (Maddie DiMaria) | 36 |
| USA – Mak Whitham (Maddie DiMaria) | 50 |
| USA – Taylor Morrell (Mia Corona) | 55 |
Lineups:
USA: 1-Avellina Saunders; 2-Gigi Zuniga, 4-Sophia Ahrens, 6-Maddie Maves, 3-Kendra Hansen; 8-Loradana Paletta (16-Elena Vera, 80), 18-Grace Murray (14-Taylor Morrell, 46), 10-Mia Corona (Capt.), 7-Maddie DiMaria (19-Giselle Aguilar, 73), 9-Deus Stanislaus (17-Mak Whitham, 46), 11-Amari Manning (13-Gianna Hanf, 73)
Substitutes Not Used: 5-Anaiah Williams, 12-Alexis Fischer, 15-Sam Ogden, 20-Jordyn Heathcock, 21-Lola-Iris Ta
Head Coach: Ciara Crinion
PUR: 18-Victoria Moore; 2-Jaeda Russel, 8-Gianna Melina Visone (14-Daovy Acevedo, 32, 9-Juliana Nicole Hille, 77), 3-Sandra O’Neil, 16-Zoriah Jones; 7-Zoe Melia, 4-Camila Adame (Capt.), 17-Amanda Echevarrias; 10-Giselle Falcon (20-Selymar Centeno Sierra, 88), 19-Mia Colón Santiago, 13-Aleeyaf Olmo (15-Jazmin Mercedes Marrero, 88)
Substitutes not used: 1-Tatum Quinones, 5-Olivia Cuevas, 6-Joelle Mateo, 11-Michaela Poidomani, 12-Amanda Gabriella Vega Ríos, 21-Amanda Quinones Figueroa
Head Coach: Andrés Mirabelli
Stats Summary: USA / PUR
Shots: 31 / 4
Shots on Goal: 8 / 2
Saves: 2 / 4
Corner Kicks: 7 / 2
Fouls: 10 / 3
Offside: 0 / 0
| Misconduct Summary |
| USA – Loradana Paletta (Caution) | 78th minute |
Officials:
Referee: Marjorie Ponce (NCA)
Assistant Referee 1: Mijensa Rensch (SUR)
Assistant Referee 2: Denisha Isaacs (GUY)
Fourth Official: Sandra Benitez (SLV)
CONCACAF U-17 WOMEN’S FINAL ROUND QUALIFIERS – FINAL GROUP B STANDINGS
| TEAM |
GP |
W |
L |
D |
GF |
GA |
GD |
PTS |
| USA |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
32 |
0 |
+32 |
9 |
| PUR |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
12 |
5 |
+7 |
6 |
| HAI |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
12 |
-9 |
3 |
| BER |
3 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
30 |
-30 |
0 |
