Reigning champions New Zealand will take huge confidence into the semi-finals of the OFC U-19 Women’s Championship after maintaining their perfect record with another comprehensive victory.

Having already scored a remarkable 35 goals and conceded none in their two matches so far, the Kiwis underlined their total dominance of Group B by putting 12 unanswered strikes past American Samoa in Rarotonga.

With her side’s progression past the group stages all but secure, coach Gemma Lewis made full use of her squad depth at the CIFA Football Academy this afternoon.

A raft of key players, including goalkeeper Nadia Olla, Aneka Mittendorff, Maggie Jenkins, Grace Wisnewski, Kelli Brown and Amelia Abott, were all given a rest from the starting line-up as Lewis began to turn her thoughts to the knockout stages.

The American Samoa players would have been particularly relieved to see the name of golden boot leader Brown missing from the starting line-up as she has so far notched 15 goals in the tournament.

One of the newcomers to the side proved just as lethal though, Ava Collins making full use of her first start to pocket a five-goal haul, including one from the penalty spot.

Collins did not take long to make an impact, putting New Zealand ahead in just the third minute, and went on to complete a hat-trick by the half-time whistle.

Gabi Rennie had assumed the captain’s armband for the day and led by example with a double while lone strikes from Rene Wasi and Tahlia Herman-Watt and an own goal put the favourites at 8-0 up going into the changing rooms.

Herman-Watt's first international goal was the pick of the bunch, the defender letting fly from a long way out and unleashing a spectacular dipping effort. 

American Samoa put in an improved defensive showing in the second half and restricted the rampant New Zealand attack to only four more goals, Collins adding another pair to her tally before being withdrawn just past the hour while Arabella Maynard and Charlotte Wilford-Carroll rounded out the scoring.

Lewis paid tribute to the depth of talent available to her in her post-match comments. 

“It was good for us to play some different players today and rest some players as well," she said.

"We’ve been managing our playing time throughout this tournament and we want to give everyone an opportunity so it was good for those girls to get on and also show that they can still compete,” she added.

“It was really nice to see that the players can slot in and it was no difference and they still completed the game plan that we were trying to execute."

New Zealand have now finished top of their pool and will meet Vanuatu in the semi-finals on Tuesday 10 September at 3pm (NZT).

Match Details

American Samoa 0
New Zealand 12 (Ava Collins 3’, 33’, pen 43’, 56’, 60’, Gabi Rennie 6’, 45 + 1’, Rene Wasi 17’, own goal 25’, Tahlia Herman-Watt 38’, Arabella Maynard 75’, Charlotte Wilford-Carroll 89’)
HT: 0-8

New Zealand: 12. Alisha Perry (GK), 3. Hannah Mackay-Wright, 5. Marisa van der Meer, 6. Rose Morton, 7. Gabi Rennie (c) (8. Amelia Abott 75’), 13. Charlotte Wilford-Carroll, 14. Arabella Maynard, 16. Lara Wall, 17. Tahlia Herman-Watt, 18. Rene Wasi (4. Aneka Mittendorff 83’), 19. Ava Collins (15. Dani Ward 62’)
Substitutes not used: 1. Nadia Olla (GK), 9. Maggie Jenkins, 10. Grace Wisnewski, 11. Kelli Brown
Coach: Gemma Lewis

Article added: Saturday 07 September 2019