Nike Friendlies: USA and England settle for 3-3 tie in under-20 women's opener

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Dec 8, 2017

The USA and England treated a standing-room only crowd of more than 2,000 fans at the Premier Sports Campus in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, to a back-and-forth game in their opening under-20  match at the 2017 Women’s Nike International Friendlies.

Three times the USA took the lead and three times England rallied to tie the score, the third time in the 90th minute when North Carolina freshman star Alessia Russo scored on a header off a corner kick.

Sophia Smith appeared to have grabbed the game-winner three minutes earlier with her second goal for the USA. The third goal was an own goal by England captain Grace Fisk, an All-American in her first season at South Carolina after transferring from Penn State.

Smith, who is slated to attend national champion Stanford next fall, could have had a couple more goals but for excellent stops by England keeper Ellie Roebuck. In the second half, Roebuck came up big with stops on Stanford freshman Civana Kuhlmann and Boston College freshman Samantha Coffey.

Next up: The USA faces Finland, which fell to Brazil, 4-0, in the first match of the tournament, on Saturday.

-- Kelsey Turnbow, a Santa Clara freshman, was a late addition to the roster in place of UCLA star Ashley Sanchez, who withdrew due to academic commitments.

Dec. 7 in Lakewood Ranch, Fla.
USA 3 England 3. Goals: Smith 19, 87, own goal 20, Patten 54, Russo 90.
USA -- Ivory; Brewster, Morse, Girma, Rodriguez (McKeown, 63); Howell, DeMelo (Kornieck, 90+1), Pinto (Coffey, 63); Kim (Kuhlmann, 46), Smith, Harr (Turnbow, 46)
England -- Roebuck (Maclver, 90); Patten, Pacheco, Wubben-Moy, Peplow, Fisk, Rouse, Allen, Russo, Brazil (Babajide, 35), Charles (Wellings, 66)
Att.: 2,054.