March 5, 2012
=”” alt=”Facebook Logo” border=”0″ class=”imported”>Gamecock Women’s Soccer on Facebook
=”” alt=”Twitter Logo” border=”0″ class=”imported”>Follow @GamecockWSoccer on Twitter
By Miquel Jacobs
Assistant Media Relations Director
CANADA VS MEXICO HIGHLIGHTS (Video)
D’ANGELO’S POST-MATCH COMMENTS (Video)
COLUMBIA, S.C. – In what ended up being a battle between two top goalkeepers, South Carolina freshman Sabrina D’Angelo (Welland, Ontario) prevailed with her third consecutive shutout of the tournament to lead the Canada U-20 Women’s National Team to the Group A title with a 1-0 victory over Mexico Monday night at the 2012 CONCACAF Under-20 Women’s Championship held at the Estadio Rommel Fernández Gutiérrez in Panama City, Panama.
D’Angelo, who was named Canada’s Player of the Match with her game-saving performance, becomes just the second goalkeeper in the 10-year history of the CONCACAF Under-20 Championships to post shutouts in all three group stage matches, mirroring the feat achieved by fellow Canadian Stacey Van Boxmeer in the 2004 tournament. The only other team to conclude group play with three shutouts was USA in 2008 with a combination of shutouts from goalkeepers Alyssa Naeher and Kristen Arnold.
The shutout was the fifth consecutive clean sheet for D’Angelo while representing Canada in international competition. In D’Angelo’s two caps prior to the tournament, 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.
The top-seed Canadians will face the second seed from the opposite group in Friday’s semifinal at 5 p.m. (ET). The opponent will be either USA or Panama, depending on the outcome of the final group match between the two teams. USA holds the advantage between the two 2-0-0 teams based on goal differential (+12 vs +3), and will clinch the group with either a victory or draw against Panama.
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 – the two semifinal winners and the third-place match winner. 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.
