U.S. U-21 Wins Nordic Cup with 6-1 Win Over Sweden
Wednesday, August 1, 2001 | Soccer
The U.S. Under-21 Women's National Team put together a masterful performance in the championship game of the Nordic Cup, scoring three goals in the first 16 minutes in a 6-1 destruction of Sweden to win its third consecutive title at the most elite competition in the world for U- 21 women.
Forward Anne Morrell of the Michigan Hawks, making her first start of the tournament, scored three goals, all off far post headers, while BYU midfielder Aleisha Cramer registered two goals and two assists. J.B. Marines' Lori Chalupny added the final U.S. goal in the 89th minute. The USA's deluge of goals came despite playing without its top two forwards in Florida's Abby Wambach, who was suspended for receiving two yellow cards, and West Virginia's Katie Barnes, who could not play with a badly bruise foot.
It was the most lopsided Nordic Cup championship game in history. It was also the greatest margin of victory in the 16 matches of this year's tournament.
"My two biggest responsibilities as the Under-21 coach are to prepare our players to play someday for the full national team and to win the Nordic Cup," added U.S. Head Coach Jerry Smith. "The players became better through this experience and have a better understanding of what it takes to win in major competitions at the international level while abroad."
In other tournament action, Germany could not regroup after being relegated to the third place match by the U.S. and were upset by Finland, 3-2. The 1-1 draw with Germany that put the USA in the final thwarted Germany's quest for a rare "quadruple" as they had already won European championships at the Under-17, Under-18 and full women's national team levels. Canada crushed Iceland, 6-2, to take fifth place and Denmark defeated Norway in penalty kicks after a 2-2 tie to take seventh place.
