Nov. 25, 2016
By Joanne Norell
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – A pair of University of Notre Dame women’s soccer representatives will move onto the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup semifinals following a tightly contested match pitting Irish teammates and sisters against each other, with the United States defeating Mexico 2-1 in a quarterfinal game on Friday in Papua New Guinea.
The U.S., which features Notre Dame’s Sabrina Flores and Natalie Jacobs on the roster, scored the decisive goal in injury time, mounting a late comeback to slip by Mexico and Irish junior Monica Flores. Mexico scored first when Maria Sanchez netted a goal in the 66th minute, but the U.S. evened things in the 81st minute with a goal by Ally Watt. Kelcie Hedge scored the game-winner in the third minute of injury time.
Monica Flores finished the tournament having played all 360 minutes of Mexico’s four games. Sabrina Flores made her first appearance Friday, playing 73 minutes in the start. Jacobs did not play Friday, but has made two appearances as a substitute.
The United States will face Korea DPR in a World Cup semifinal match at 4 p.m. local time (1 a.m. ET) Tuesday at Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
— ND —
Joanne Norell, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2014 and coordinates communications efforts for the Notre Dame women’s soccer, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and fencing programs. Norell is a 2011 graduate of Purdue University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communication, and earned her master’s degree in sports industry management from Georgetown University in 2013.