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.