United States Reaches Semifinals of U-20 World Cup

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Aug. 31, 2012

SAITAMA, Japan – The United States advanced to the semifinals of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup with a 2-1 extra time victory over North Korea in a quarterfinal matchup Friday at Komaba Stadium. The Americans will meet Nigeria in the semifinals on Tuesday in Tokyo.

Cavalier sophomore midfielder Morgan Brian (St. Simons Island, Ga.) played all 120 minutes in the victory. She has started all four games of the tournament for the United States.

The team, led by Virginia head coach Steve Swanson, went 1-1-1 in group play to advance, defeating Ghana, tying China, and losing to Germany.

“From our standpoint, we knew it was going to be a competitive game and it certainly was,” said Swanson following the quarterfinal victory. “We’ve got a lot of respect for North Korea, I thought they played very hard and it was every bit the game we expected so we are happy to move on. I thought our players played tremendous. We learned the lessons from the first three games and that carried over tonight.”

The United States-Nigeria semifinal will begin at 2:50 a.m. ET on Tuesday at the National Stadium in Tokyo. The game will air live on ESPNU.