March 11, 2010

FOUR GOALS, TWO ASSISTS
Horan leads 9-0 U.S. rout of Haiti

ALAJUELA, Costa Rica – Lindsay Horan scored four goals and added two assists for the United States in its 9-0 Group A win over Haiti in the first game of the CONCACAF Under-17 Championships Wednesday night.

The USA’s first attack of the match yielded the first goal just 92 seconds into the match. Horan burst into the right side of the penalty box with a nifty dribble and then laid ball back across the six yard line. Alex Doll then pounded the bouncing ball into the roof of the net.

The USA doubled the lead in the 13th minute after midfielder Cari Roccaro sent a long service into the penalty area from the right wing where it was collected well by Morgan Brian inside the penalty area. Brian froze several defenders with a fake before laying a pass straight back to Taylor Smith who side-footed her shot into the right corner from 14 yards out.

Roccaro scored in the 16th minute off an assist by Lindsey Horan at Alejandro Morera Soto Stadium.

Morgan Brian started the play with a dribbling run down the right side. She played Horan through, who beat another defender to make room for a cross, which she swung perfectly to the far post. Roccaro, the U.S. youngest player at 15, made hard run and pounded a header into the net from just inside the six-yard box.

Horan, went on to tally four consecutive times in the second half -- in the 56th, 72nd, 88th (penalty kick) and 91st minutes.

Her first goal came in the 56th minute as she and Smith played a beautiful wall-pass in the air with their heads that ended with Horan looping a header over the Coby and into the net.

The seventh goal came off a Kaili Torres corner kick from the right from side. Center back Abby Dahlkemper rose to get her head on the cross, but it skimmed off her head to the far post. The 5-feet-9-inch Horan trapped it into the air off her thigh and then headed a looping a shot over Coby, off a Haitian defender’s head and into the roof of the net.

Haiti’s lone shot on goal came from a free kick in the 74th minute, but that was easily saved by Heaberlin.

Horan scored twice in the final four minutes, the first coming off a penalty kick after she was taken down in the right side of the penalty in the 87th minute. Horan stepped up to take it herself and earned her hat trick by burying her shot low into the left corner to make it 8-0.

The last goal came in stoppage time as Isabel Farrell crossed from the left wing and the Haitians failed to clear the bouncing ball. It rolled to Horan who fired point blank at Coby. The Haitian goalkeeper got both hands on the ball, but couldn’t hold it and it trickled over the goal line

The Americans' next game is against the Cayman Islands Friday, a match that can be seen live at 5 p.m. CT via a video web stream on CONCACAF.com and on tape-delayed basis on Fox Soccer Channel at 7 p.m. CT.

The U.S. will finish group play against Costa Rica Sunday in a match that will also be streamed live on CONCACAF.com at 8:30 p.m. CT and shown tape-delayed on FSC on March 15 at 2 p.m. CT.