The U.S. U-20 Women’s National Team dominated host Costa Rica in a 4-0 win, taking first place in its third and final Group A match at the 2025 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship.
The USA qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup by winning its first two games in Group A, and this match was just for semifinal seeding. With the win, the USA takes the top spot in the group and will play Group B runner-up Canada on June 6 for a berth to the title game (11:30 a.m. ET on FS2). Group B winner Mexico will face Costa Rica in the other semifinal.
The match was played in steady rain on a somewhat sloppy field, but the young Americans still kept the pressure on Las Ticas for the entire match. U.S. head coach Carrie Kveton made eight changes to the starting XI from the USA’s 3-1 victory over Puerto Rico on June 1 in the second match of the tournament, after making nine changes between the first two matches. Forward Chloe Ricketts and defenders Abby Mills and team captain Katie Scott were the holdovers in today’s starting lineup from the second game.
It took the USA 23 minutes to breach the Costa Rica back line. The game-winning goal came when Angel City FC midfielder Kennedy Fuller played UNC midfielder Linda Ullmark behind the defense with a well-weighted pass into the penalty box. Ullmark held off her defender and slotted it home into the left corner from eight yards out for her second goal of the tournament. It marked Fuller’s fourth assist of the tournament, a team-high.
A physical Costa Rica side, playing in front of the home crowd, was definitely up for the fight, but the USA outshot the Central Americans, 19-4, for the match and 8-1 in shots on goal.
The USA doubled the lead in the 60th minute off a goal from halftime substitute Mary Long, her third of the tournament. Ullmark played a nice pass to Dallas Trinity midfielder Sealy Strawn into the right side of the box, drawing the goalkeeper and a defender. Strawn then dished an entirely unselfish pass across the goal mouth on the ground for an easy tap-in for Long. It was the Kansas City Current forward’s third goal of the tournament after scoring twice in the last game against Puerto Rico.
The USA made it 3-0 in the 65th minute off a corner kick from the left side that was taken by Fuller. Long rose to head the ball on frame, but it was blocked on the goal line by Costa Rica’s Sheika Scott. Notre Dame midfielder Grace Restovitch then crashed the goal and blocked the attempted clearance with her midsection before smashing the ball into the net from the one-inch line for her first goal of the tournament.
Costa Rica just needed to avoid a 5-0 defeat to finish second in the group, qualify for the World Cup and advance to the semifinals, so the remainder of the game featured a home side content to not take too many chances in the attack while defending their hearts out.
Fuller surely drew cheers from the Puerto Rican team watching from their hotel when she scored a fourth in the 87th minute, blasting her shot off the hands of Costa Rica goalkeeper Alondra Iriarte and into the left side of the net from just outside the penalty area. It was Fuller’s second score of the tournament.
Fortunately for Las Ticas, who had to sweat out seven minutes of stoppage time, the game ended 4-0 and Costa Rica qualified for the World Cup by the slimmest of margins. Costa Rica tied Group A third-place finisher Puerto Rico on points (4) and goal difference (+5), while only slightly ahead on the next tie-breaker, goals scored, besting the islanders nine goals to eight. The final whistle sparked wild celebrations for the home team despite the loss.
The 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup will be held from September 5–27 next year in Poland.
Additional Notes:
- In group play, the USA outscored its three opponents 15-1.
- Every player on the U.S. roster earned their first U-20 cap or caps in this tournament, except for defender Avan Alvarez, who had two previous U-20 caps coming into the competition.
- Alverez, who got the start, earned her team-leading fifth U-20 international cap.
- The USA played three different goalkeepers in each group match with Notre Dame’s Sonoma Kasica handling the netminding duties in the first game, Penn State’s Kealy Titmuss in the second, and Stanford’s Caroline Birkel earning the shutout today.
- Kansas City Current defender Katie Scott, who hails from Pennsylvania, captained the U.S. U-20s for the second time in this tournament.
- Izzy Engle still leads the USA in scoring in this tournament after pounding in four goals in the first match against Guyana.
-U.S. UNDER-20 WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM MATCH REPORT-
Match: U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team vs. Costa Rica U-20 WNT
Date: June 3, 2025
Competition: Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship
Venue: Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto; Alajuela, Costa Rica
Attendance: 369
Kickoff: 2 p.m. local (4 p.m. ET)
Weather: 72 degrees and raining
| Scoring Summary |
1 |
2 |
F |
| USA |
1 |
3 |
4 |
| CRC |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Lineups:
USA: 1-Caroline Birkel; 2-Katie Scott (15-Leena Powell, 64), 17-Edra Bello, 4-Abby Mills (5-Bella Ayscue, 46), 3-Aven Alvarez; 6-Grace Restovich, 8-Kennedy Fuller, 10-Linda Ullmark (16-Kennedy Ring, 64); 11-Sealey Strawn, 9-Izzy Engle (19-Mary Long, 46), 7-Chloe Ricketts (18-Ashlyn Puerta, 77)
Substitutes Not Used: 12-Kealey Titmuss, 13-Peyton McGovern, 14-Emma Johnson, 20-Mya Townes, 21-Sonoma Kasica
Head Coach: Carrie Kveton
CRC: 1-Valeria Fernandez; 2-Brittany Vasquez, 3-Josselyn Briceńo,14-Brittany Castrillo; 4-Fabiana Alfaro (5-Tiara Ruiz, 29), 8-Daniela Ocampo, 12-Alondra Gonzalez (16-Alisha Lindo, 79), 15-Jimena Jimenez (Capt.) , 20-Lucia Paniagua (7-Emma Azofeifa, 79); 10-Sheika Scott, 11-Stacy Thomas
Substitutes Not Used: 6-Valeria Vargas, 9-Keisy Taylor, 13-Genesis Cespedes, 17-Yeslim Alvarado, 18-Ashley Quesada, 19-Odette Pitty, 21-Raquel Recio
Head Coach: Patricia Aguilar
0
| First Take
