Champions! Brick's Scarpelli, U.S. U-15 Girls Win International Soccer Tournament

ORLANDO, FL — The U.S. Under-15 national girls soccer team is the 2016 CONCACAF champion.

The team, which includes Brick Township resident Leah Scarpelli, defeated Canada 2-0 in the championship game of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football U-15 girls 2016 tournament, held at ESPN's Wide World of Sports Complex.

The U.S. team, which was competing in the event for the first time — Canada won the inaugural CONCACAF U-15 championship in 2014 — did not allow a goal in the tournament in winning seven games.

After a scoreless first half, the United States got a goal from Kalyssa Van Zanten late in the first half to take a 1-0 lead, and then added an insurance goal on score by Samantha Meza off a corner kick in the 58th minute.

The team received a congratulatory tweet from U.S. Women's National Team captain Carli Lloyd on Sunday evening after their victory:

Scarpelli, who moved from forward a year ago to playing center back for the U.S. National team, started every game of the tournament for the U.S. except a 1-0 win over Haiti in the group stage, and served as one of the team's captains. Scarpelli, at center back, and five of her teammates — goalkeeper Ruth Jones, midfielder Croix Bethune, midfielder Mia Fishel, midfielder Gabrielle Robinson, and forward Meza — all were named to the all-tournament team, according to reports from the tournament. Jones received the Golden Glove award, Fishel the Golden Ball and Payton Linnehan, who had eight goals in the tournament, received the Golden Boot.

In the seven games of the tournament, the U.S. scored 49 goals, led by Fishel, Robinson and Linnehan with eight goals apiece, according to U.S. Soccer reports on the games.

The U.S. team advanced to the title game with a 5-0 win over Costa Rica in the semifinals, after defeating Bermuda 12-0 in the quarterfinals. The U.S. team won its group with victories over Trinidad & Tobago, Haiti, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

When Scarpelli returns to Brick, she will join her teammates at Brick Memorial High School, where the sophomore will play for the Mustangs this fall. It will be her last year of eligibility to do so before a change in the rules by U.S. Soccer bars her and all other girls playing for soccer academies that are part of the U.S. development program from playing high school soccer.

Scarpelli did not play for the Mustangs last year; her call-up to the national team had her traveling to training camp.

The CONCACAF U-15 Girls Championship is part of the U.S. program's work preparing the team for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in two years, according to U.S. Soccer.