French impressed with everyone's contributions

• by Soccer America , Jan 20, 2014

[USA UNDER-20 WOMEN: Reaction] Despite finishing the tournament without two of its biggest stars, U.S. international Lindsey Horan (recalled by French club Paris St. Germain) and Makenzy Doniak (out with a broken hand), the USA won its fourth Concacaf Under-20 Women's Championship, capturing all five games by a margin of 29-0. Coach Michelle French praised the performance of all her players, in particular those who came on for Horan and Doniak.

“I’m extremely proud," she said after the 4-0 win over Mexico in the final. "Mexico has great players and they were extremely organized, disciplined and very threatening. For us to be able to weather the storm at times during the game, respond with some great passing series that led up to some fantastic goals, it was really an exciting win for the players.”

McKenzie Meehan and Summer Green, who began the tournament on the bench, started up front along with SA Freshman of the Year Savannah Jordan. Margaret Purce came off the bench to score the game's third goal.

“There were some players coming into the tournament that we didn’t know how much time they were going to get or how much they would contribute," said French. "But, as I’ve said throughout this tournament, every single player contributed in some aspect to help us become successful, so not only did they grow as a team, but individually they really grew up.”

French was impressed with her forwards.

“It’s incredible for players to come into an environment that they haven’t been in very often and immediately make a difference," said said. "We saw that with those forwards who came in the last few games for us. We couldn’t be more proud of their focus and their overall development in this tournament.”