Emily Pohl (Woodbury, Minn.) tallied a goal and an assist as the U.S. Under-18 Women’s National Team topped Czechia, 4-2, in pre-tournament action on Wednesday at the RBC Centre.
“I am very impressed with our group and how they played resilient throughout the entire game,” said Courtney Kennedy (Woburn, Mass.), head coach of the 2026 U.S. Under-18 Women’s National Team. “We learned a lot about what our style of play is and how hard this tournament is going to be.”
Despite outshooting Czechia, 11-4, the teams went into the first intermission tied at 0-0. Both teams had multiple power play opportunities, but defense was on full display through the first 20 minutes.
Just 2:48 into the middle frame Lindsay Stepnowski (South Glastonbury, Conn.) put home a power-play goal to open a 1-0 lead for the U.S. Pohl picked up the assist on the goal.
Minutes later Jane Daley (Medfield, Mass.) doubled Team USA’s lead to 2-0, capitalizing on another power play opportunity, putting home a puck around an outstretched Czech goaltender. Tina Scalese (West Boylston, Mass.) and Annabelle Lovell (Hingman, Mass.) recorded the assists on the play.
Cecilia Wielenberg (Downers Grove, Ill.) stopped a point-blank shot on a 2-on-1 opportunity with just 22 seconds left in the middle frame. On the ensuing offensive rush for the U.S., Pohl put away Team USA’s third of the game, going up 3-0 with 15 seconds left in the third.
Heading into the third, the U.S. led Czechia in shots by the tally of 25-9.
Czechia got one back six minutes into the third, sneaking a shot from just inside the blue line, past the goaltender to pull within 3-1. The Czechs then picked up their second of the period just four seconds under the five-minute mark to pull within 3-2.
Jillian McLaughlin (Oceanside, Calif.) iced the game with an empty net goal with 1:22 remaining to put Team USA up, 4-2.
The U.S. outshot Czechia 35-18 in the game. Emily Pohl was named Team USA’s Player of the Game.