March 1, 2012
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By Miquel Jacobs
Assistant Media Relations Director
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina freshman Sabrina D’Angelo (Welland, Ontario) earned a shutout in her first career appearance for the Canada U-20 Women’s National Team as Canada romped Haiti, 5-0, in the opening match of the 2012 CONCACAF Under-20 Women’s Championship at the Estadio Rommel Fernández Gutiérrez in Panama City, Panama.
The shutout was the third straight clean sheet for D’Angelo while representing Canada in international competition. In D’Angelo’s previous two caps, both coming with the Under-17 team, she posted shutouts against USA and Mexico to lead Canada to the 2010 CONCACAF Under-17 Women’s Championship title.
After a scoreless first half Thursday, two-time champion Canada responded with five goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half to coast to a 5-0 win. The Maple Leafs have been perfect in group play since the biennial Under-20 Championship was established in 2004. With the win, Canada moves to 13-0-0 all-time in group play with a scoring margin of 50 goals for and five goals against.
It was a successful call-up for the Gamecock with the starting nod in goal in her first call-up to the Under-20 team. The SEC Freshman of the Year, Goalkeeper of the Year and Co-Defensive Player of the Year had previous CONCACAF experience with the Under-17 team at the 2010 and 2008 U-17 Championships. D’Angelo was a member of the Canadian teams that won gold in 2010 and bronze in 2008, and was the starter for the 2010 squad at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup.
Canada returns to action Saturday (March 3) against Jamaica in the second match of the group stage. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. (ET) and will be webcast live on CONCACAF TV.
About D’Angelo & CONCACAF U-20 Championship
The eight-team CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship will qualify three teams to the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. D’Angelo has previously competed for Canada at the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship where she was the starting goalkeeper for the side that won the gold medal with a 1-0 shutout win against Mexico in the final in addition to a shutout win over Team USA in the semifinal. This tournament marks D’Angelo’s first call-up to the U-20 squad, the last level on the Canadian women’s pyramid before reaching the full national team.
