Aug. 19, 2002
EDMONTON, Alberta – Notre Dame women’s soccer players Candace Chapman and Katie Thorlakson helped the Canadian Under-19 National Team rally Sunday night for a 3-2 opening win over Denmark, at the first-ever FIFA Under-19 Women’s World Championship.
The tournament includes three four-team pools, with Canada’s Group A (also Japan and Nigeria) playing at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium. The United States – minus injured Notre Dame freshman midfielder Annie Schefter – played the first game of the tournament on Saturday, dispatching of England 5-1 at Victoria’s Centennial Stadium (Group C also includes Australia and Taiwan). Group B at Vancouver’s Swanguard Stadium includes the challenging foursome of Germany, France, Mexico and Brazil.
Chapman and Thorlakson will miss Notre Dame’s Aug. 23 and 25 exhibitions versus North Carolina and Kentucky (unless Canada fails to make the Aug. 24-25 quarterfinals) and they likely could miss the first two regular-season games vs. Providence (Aug. 30) and Virginia Tech (Sept. 1), with the semifinals slated for Aug. 29 and the medal games on Sept. 1.
(Check back to und.com for World Championship diary entries from Chapman, Thorlakson and Schefter, who recently had ACL knee surgery and is attending this week’s games before heading to Notre Dame for Freshman Orientation weekend).
Chapman – who also has emerged as a starter a t right-flank and central midfielder with the full Canadian National Team – played all of Sunday’s game at right back, a position she learned as a freshman defender with the Irish in 2001. Thorlakson – who is slated to begin her college career after the World Championship – played the first 67 minutes in her typical attacking midfielder role, using her speed to get through for an open shot in first five minutes before sending a 14th-minute thru-ball that nearly was converted by National Team striker Christy Sinclair.
Notre Dame’s Katie Thorlakson (#16; first row, second from right) and Candace Chapman (#9; second row, third from left) are starters with Canada’s Under-19 National Team.
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Canada’s winning goal came in the 79th minute, as Kara Lang caught Sarah Anderson off her line and sent in a shot from 25 yards. The host country had tied the game 10 minutes earlier, when Michelle Rowe converted a Carmeline Moscato free kick.
Denmark surged to the lead early in the second half, on a strong 18-yard shot from Johanna Rasmussen in the 52nd minute and Marie Herping’s run behind the defense one minute later.
Canada had opened the scoring in the 15th minute when Lang’s far-post cross led to a header from Sinclair, the leading scorer for Canada’s full national team and a sophomore at the University of Portland (the Pilots are slated to face Notre Dame on Sept. 8 at Alumni Field).
Canada returns to action on Tuesday night (8:00 p.m. MT) versus Japan, which tied Nigeria in its opener (1-1).
The USA’s 5-1 win over England included three goals late in the first half – by Heather O’Reilly, Leslie Osborne and O’Reilly again – while the Americans answered England’s second-half goal with scores from Kelly Wilson and Lindsay Tarpley.
Canada’s final round-robin game is Aug. 22 vs. Nigeria (8:00) while the U.S. has games left versus Australia (Aug. 19, 7:15 PT) and Taiwan (Aug. 21, 7:15). Australia opened with a 5-1 win over Taiwan while first-round results from Group B included Germany’s 2-0 win over France and Brazil’s 5-3 outlasting of Mexico.