Wisconsin Soccer Central

Marquette teammates Ashley Handwork and Liz Bartels scored two goals apiece as Team Chicago Academy-Botafogo routed Georgia's SSA Chelsea Elite 5-0 on Thursday to advance to the Under-19 girls final at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships in Germantown, Md.

Team Chicago Academy-Botafogo, whose roster includes five players set to play college soccer in Wisconsin this fall, finished second in the four-team round robin with a 1-0-2 record – they tied California's Legends FC on Tuesday and Virginia's VSA Heat Blue on Wednesday by identical 1-1 scorelines.

The Illinois team will take on VSA Heat Blue (2-0-1) again at 4:45 p.m. Saturday for the national championship and the Ross Stewart Cup. Both teams have history in the finals: Team Chicago Academy-Botafogo won the Under-18 title last year, while VSA Heat Blue claimed the Under-17 national championship in 2012.

Handwork opened the scoring against SSA Chelsea Elite in the 16th minute Thursday, then made it 3-0 in the 52nd after Bartels netted her first of the day in the 38th. Bartels closed out the scoring in the lopsided victory in the 84th.

Team Chicago Academy-Botafogo's roster also includes University of Wisconsin and U.S. Under-20 women's national team standout midfielder Rose Lavelle and midfielder Katie Ciesiulka and forward Heather Handwork, who both are incoming freshmen at Marquette.

• Midfielder Luka Prpa (Muskego) and the Chicago Magic PSG Under-15/16 team thumped California's Strikers FC 3-0 in the third-place match at the U.S. Soccer Development Academy playoffs Saturday in Carson, Calif. Prpa, who has verbally committed to Marquette for 2016, was the only player on the team to play in all 33 matches this season and finished second on Magic PSG (21-10-2) with 14 goals.
• Defender Elon Koenig, who has verbally committed to UW for 2015, and the Los Angeles Galaxy (24-3-6) blanked defending champion Real Salt Lake-Arizona 2-0 to claim the Under-15/16 title later Saturday in Carson. Koenig was on the bench but didn't play in the final or in the Galaxy's 3-2 semifinal win over Magic PSG, and finished the season with one goal in 21 appearances (18 starts).