U.S. U-17 Women’s National Team rolls to 9-0 victory over Haiti

SAN RAFAEL, Costa Rica – The U.S. U-17 Women’s National Team won its second match of its three-game schedule in Group B of the Final Round of the Concacaf Women’s U-17 Qualifiers with a dominating 9-0 victory over Haiti.

Forward Giselle Aguilar bagged a hat trick, Deus Stanislaus scored twice after coming on in the 72^nd minute and midfielder Grace Murray, forward Mak Whitham and midfielder Loradana Paletta also added goals. The USA also benefited from an early Haiti own goal.

The USA now needs a win or a tie in its final match of the tournament, against Puerto Rico on March 22 (12:06 p.m. ET / 10:06 a.m. local on FOX Soccer Plus), to win the group and earn its berth to the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.

Puerto Rico beat Bermuda, 9-0, in the other Group B match and now has six points. In order for Puerto Rico to finish first in the group, it would have to beat the USA as the Americans hold the edge in the first tiebreaker, goal difference, at plus-28 goals to Puerto Rico’s plus-11.

This is the second year of the new Concacaf qualifying format for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. Last year, the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup began its run of being staged annually and expanded from 16 to 24 nations. Therefore, instead of a qualifying tournament in which the top three Concacaf finishers advance to the U-17 Women’s World Cup, 12 teams were drawn into three groups of four teams each with the winner of each group and the best second place team qualifying for the World Cup, set for the fall in Morocco.

The first-place finisher in all three groups will be decided on the final match day with the current top two teams in each group squaring off. The USA (6 points), Canada (6 points) and Mexico (6 points) are currently in control of the three groups due to far superior goal differences heading into the March 22 games, but El Salvador (4 points) faces Canada, Puerto Rico (6 points) takes on the USA and Costa Rica (6 points) takes on Mexico.

U.S. head coach Ciara Crinion made nine changes to the starting lineup from the team that rolled over Bermuda 19-0 on March 17, with only center back Anaiah Williams and right back Gigi Zuniga starting two consecutive games.

The USA opened the scoring in the fifth minute off an own goal from Haiti defender Kaylee Mallebranche that was forced by a Mak Whitham shot. Three minutes later Murray scored and the USA was off and running once again.

It took until the 25^th minute for the USA to make it 3-0 and that came from Aguilar after she stripped a Haiti defender deep inside the penalty area. Aguilar scored in stoppage time of the first half as well and then bagged the second half’s first goal, in the 52^nd minute, to complete her hat trick and a run of three goals in a row. It was her first hat trick at the international level.

Whitham, who threatened from her center forward position the whole game, got her goal in the 57^th on a nice strike from distance into the right corner, but then Paletta topped that with a brilliant full volley from the top of the penalty area that struck the underside of the crossbar and bounced down into the goal. Paletta’s goal made it 7-0.

Stanislaus, who scored four times in the first game against Bermuda, had time for only two scores after coming on in the 72^nd minute, but she tallied in the 79^th and 81^st minutes to bag her brace. She almost had a hat trick in the span of four minutes, but her shot hit the bottom of the crossbar and bounced away.

Haiti goalkeeper Abeegayel Favilus put in a fine performance, making 11 saves and definitely kept the final score lower than it could have been.

Goal Scoring Rundown:

USA – OWN GOAL (KAYLEE MALLEBRANCHE), 5^th minute: Grace Murray played Mak Whitham into the right side of the penalty box. Whitham’s shot deflected off the Haiti goalkeeper’s heel and across the middle of the goal where Mallebranche tried to clear but instead inadvertently knocked the ball into her own net. USA 1, HAI 0

USA – GRACE MURRAY (GIANNA HANF), 8^th minute: Jordyn Heathcock played a pass to Hanf on the left wing and she dribbled into the penalty area before playing a cross on the ground to Murray, who had time to collect with her right foot and then push her left-footed shot into the left corner from 10 yards out. USA 2, HAI 0 

USA – GISELLE AGUILAR, 25^th minute: Just seconds before the first half cooling break, Aguilar stripped Nya Jean-Baptiste in the right side of the box and scored at the near post from six yards out for her second goal of the tournament. USA 3, HAI 0

USA – GISELLE AGUILAR (JORDYN HEATHCOCK), 45+1^st minute: The USA scored in stoppage time as Heathcock poked a pass from the left side of the penalty area to the middle for Aguilar, who side-stepped a defender and then struck her shot from eight yards off the hands of Haiti goalkeeper Abeegayel Favilus and into the left corner. USA 4, HAI 0 

USA – GISELLE AGUILAR (GIANNA HANF), 52^nd minute: Off a free kick, the USA got the ball to Hanf on the left wing, and she crossed on the ground into the middle. Mak Whitham dummied the ball and it rolled to Aguilar at the far post. Aguilar then beat a defender and clipped her shot just under the crossbar from seven yards out to complete her hat trick.USA 5, HAI 0

USA – MAK WHITHAM (JORDYN HEATHCOCK), 57^th minute: Heathcock played a square pass on the ground to Whitham in the middle of the penalty area and the U.S. forward lost her defender with same fancy footwork before smashing her right-footed into the right side of the net on a line from 14 yards out. USA 6, HAI 0

USA – LORADANA PALETTA, 62^nd minute: The goal of the game went to Paletta, who collected a poor Haiti clearance at the top of the box on her thigh and then struck a full volley that smashed off the underside of the crossbar and down into the goal. USA 7, HAI 0

USA – DEUS STANISLAUS (AMARI MANNING), 79^th minute: The eighth goal came off a cross from the left side from Manning, a 61^st minute substitute, who flighted the ball perfectly to the head of Stanislaus, who was standing on the six-yard line. Stanislaus easily headed home for her fifth goal of the tournament. USA 8, HAI 0

USA – DEUS STANISLAUS (MADDIE DiMARIA), 81^st minute: DiMaria battled with a defender near the right end line, won the physical confrontation, and dribbled toward the near post before cutting a pass back to Stanislaus, who drove her shot into the lower left corner to give her two goals in three minutes. USA 9, HAI 0

Additional Notes: 

• Defender Anaiah Williams captained the USA while making her second straight start and playing her second consecutive 90-minute game.
• The U.S. U-17s scored on nine of their 19 shots on goal and outshot Haiti, 35-3.
• Giselle Aguilar’s three goals gave her four for the tournament and five in four U-17 caps.
• The goal for Grace Murray was her first at the U-17 international level in three caps.
• Mak Whitham’s goal upped her international goal total to six in seven U-17 caps.
• Deus Stanislaus upped her international goal total to eight goals in six U-17 caps and she leads the USA in scoring in this tournament with six goals.
• Loradana Paletta’s goal was her fifth in 10 U-17 caps.
• Gianna Hanf and Jordyn Heathcock, both of whom made their first starts of the tournament, each had two assists.
• Paletta came off the bench at halftime before scoring a beautiful goal. At 15 years old, she is playing up two age groups. Her first match with the U-17s was in July of 2025. She likely would have made the roster for the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup but at 14 years old, she was not age-eligible for the tournament.
• Players born on or after Jan. 1, 2009, are age-eligible for the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. Seventeen players on this roster were born in 2009, three in 2010 and one, Paletta, was born in 2011. She is age-eligible for the next three U-17 Women’s World Cup tournaments.
• Just three countries thus far have qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. In addition to host Morocco, New Zealand and Samoa have qualified from Oceania via the 2025 OFC U-16 Women’s Championship.

-U.S. UNDER-17 WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM MATCH REPORT-

Match: U.S. Under-17 Women’s National Team vs. Haiti
Date: March 19, 2026
Competition: Concacaf Women’s U-17 Final Round Qualifiers – Group B
Venue: Costa Rican Football Federation – Field #2; San Rafael, Costa Rica
Attendance: 237
Kickoff: 3 p.m. local (5 p.m. ET)
Weather: 85 degrees and partly sunny

Scoring Summary:     1       2       F 
USA                              4       5       9            
HAI                               0       0       0

USA – Own Goal (Kaylee Mallebranche)                  5^th minute
USA – Grace Murray (Gianna Hanf)                          8
USA – Giselle Aguilar                                                25
USA – Giselle Aguilar  (Jordyn Heathcock)               45+1
USA – Giselle Aguilar (Gianna Hanf)                         52
USA – Mak Whitham (Jordyn Heathcock)                 57
USA – Loradana Paletta                                            62
USA – Deus Stanislaus (Amari Manning)                  79
USA – Deus Stanislaus (Maddie DiMaria)                 81   

Lineups: 

USA: 21-Lola-Iris Ta; 2-Gigi Zuniga (8-Loradana Paletta, 46), 4-Sophia Ahrens, 5-Anaiah Williams (Capt.), 15 Sam Ogden; 16-Elena Vera, 18-Grace Murray, 20-Jordyn Heathcock (10-Mia Corona, 78); 19-Giselle Aguilar (7-Maddie DiMaria, 72), 17-Mak Whitham (9-Deus Stanislaus, 72), 13 Gianna Hanf (11-Amari Manning, 61)

Substitutes Not Used: 1-Avellina Saunders, 3-Kendra Hansen, 6-Maddie Maves, 12-Alexis Fischer, 14-Taylor Morrell

Head Coach: Ciara Crinion

HAI: 21-Abeegayell Favilus; 8-Jenna Rousseau, 5-Nya Jean-Baptiste, 3-Kaylee Mallebranche (7-Krystel Châtelain, 17), 13-Sofia Maurrasse (19-Daphney Louis, 62), 16-Alyssa Manasse; 9-Laetitia Decombe (17-Samira Ductan, 46), 6-Miya Larco (Capt.), 11-Keisha Gue; 18-Rosalie St. Louis (14-Léa Jacques, 61), 20-Kyrah Lormil (15-Adjani Kamanzi-Mondestin, 61)

Substitutes not used: None

Head Coach: Frenoy Baptiste

Stats Summary: USA / HAI 
Shots: 35 / 3
Shots on Goal: 19 / 0
Saves: 0 / 11
Corner Kicks: 5 / 2
Fouls: 6 / 7
Offside: 5 / 0

Misconduct Summary: 
None

Officials: 
Referee: Marjorie Ponce (NCA)
Assistant Referee 1: Mijensa Rensch (SUR)
Assistant Referee 2: Denisha Isaacs (GUY)
Fourth Official: Sandra Benitez (SLV)

CONCACAF U-17 WOMEN’S FINAL ROUND QUALIFIERS – GROUP B STANDINGS