Aug. 23, 2002

EDMONTON, Alberta – Notre Dame’s Candace Chapman and Katie Thorlakson helped the Canadian Under-19 National Team post two more wins to go undefeated in pool play at the first annual FIFA Under-19 World Championship, with Canada moving on to this weekend’s quarterfinal round after outscoring its Group A opponents 9-2 (3-2 vs. Denmark, 4-0 vs. Japan and 2-0 vs. Nigeria). Chapman and Thorlakson both played key roles in the second goal of the Japan game.

The U.S. squad – with injured Notre Dame freshman midfielder Annie Schefter cheering them on – swept to the quarterfinals with Croup C wins over England (5-1), Australia (4-0) and Taiwan (6-0).

By winning Group A, Canada earned the right to keep playing at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium for its quarterfinal matchup versus England (the third-place team from Croup C) on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. The U.S. also will stay at its site (Victoria’s Centennial Stadium) after sweeping through Group A, with a Sunday quarterfinal versus Group B third-place finisher Denmark (7:00 p.m.).

If Canada advances to the Aug. 29 semifinals (in Edmonton), it will face the winner of Saturday’s Brazil-Australia quarterfinal (Brazil won Group B, Australia was the Group C runner-up). A victorious U.S. squad would await the winner of Sunday’s Japan-Germany quarterfinal (the Group A and B runner-ups, respectively).

In-game statistics of all remaining games can be tracked via www.fifa.com, www.canadasoccer.com and www.ussoccer.com (for the U.S. games).

In the win over Japan (played in front of nearly 16,000 fans), Canada jumped to an early lead when Christy Sinclair drilled home a far-post shot in the ninth minute. A pass from Thorlakson (who again started at attacking midfielder) later set up a near-goal by Amy Vermeulen before the host country scored in injury time of the first half, with Chapman making a right-flank run from deep in her own end and sliding the ball into the goal area. Thorlakson’s clever “dummy” shot then fooled the defense and left Sinclair open for a leftfooted shot inside the far post.

Fifteen-year-old Kara Lang added two second-half goals, hammering in a deep cross from Carmelina Moscato and heading in a pinpoint corner kick from Vermeulen.

Canada posted its 12th straight victory in Thursday night’s game versus Nigeria (in front of 15,303 fans), with Sinclair converting a 25th-minute penalty kick after Sasha Andrews was dragged down by ‘keeper Francisca Agbara. Sinclair scored again in the 69th minute, via a Melanie Booth corner kick.

The U.S. win over Australia featured an early Kelly Wilson goal and a three-goal surge in the second half (by Leslie Osborne, Wilson again on a free kick and Heather O’Reilly). Lindsay Tarpley then scored twice in the first 10 minutes of the Taiwan game, Rachel Buehler added a PK goal and Tarpley completed her hat trick shortly before the intermission. The U.S. then added second-half goals by Kerri Hanks and Stephanie Ebner to complete a 15-1 scoring edge in pool play.