The United States under-17 women's national team, with a 15-year-old from Syosset running its midfield, beat Spain 2-1 on Wednesday in Rabat, Morocco, and moved into the quarterfinals of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.

Spain came into the round of 16 as the winner of its group and as the tournament's two-time champion, having lifted the trophy in 2018 and 2022. The United States has never won this World Cup. For one afternoon on Pitch 4 of the Mohammed VI Football Complex, that history ran the other way.

The Long Islander in the middle

Loradana Paletta is the only New Yorker on the 21-player American roster and, born in 2011, its youngest member. The midfielder from Syosset, who plays her club soccer for New York City FC, came into the knockout round having logged more minutes than anyone on the team, 252 across the three group matches, with three goals and three assists. Only forward Maddie DiMaria, whose 11 group-stage goals set a U.S. record for any FIFA Women's World Cup, scored more.

The Americans arrived in the knockout round the hard way. They opened the tournament with a 17-0 win over Samoa, the most goals ever scored in a single match at this World Cup, then beat Kenya 6-1 before dropping the group finale 3-2 to China PR, a result that handed them second place in Group E and a round-of-16 date with Spain instead of an easier draw. The team still finished group play with 25 goals, the most of any country in the field and the most a United States team has ever scored in the group stage of a FIFA Women's World Cup at any age level.

A win over the tournament's standard

Wednesday's match paired the group runner-up with a former champion. Spain had won this tournament in 2018 and 2022 and had won its group here while the Americans stumbled in theirs. The U.S. side led 2-0 at the break and held on through a Spanish push in the second half, closing out the 2-1 result that U.S. Soccer's youth national team accounts announced within minutes of the final whistle.

The win extends a tournament that has already been historic for the American side, and it keeps alive a run that a Syosset soccer family is following from five time zones away.

Sunday morning, against DPR Korea

The quarterfinal comes fast. The United States plays DPR Korea on Sunday, November 1, at 10 a.m. Eastern on Pitch 2 of the same Rabat complex, with the semifinals set for Wednesday, November 4, and the final on Saturday, November 7. U.S. Soccer carried the group stage on Peacock, FS2 and Telemundo Deportes, and posts match information and lineups on its site.

Anyone on Long Island who wants to watch one of their own on a World Cup quarterfinal pitch can do it with Sunday coffee: kickoff is 10 a.m. New York time.

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