March 12, 2012
PANAMA CITY, Panama -- Sophomores Nkem Ezurike (Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia/Sackville) and Shelina Zadorsky (London, Ontario/St. Thomas Aquinas) and freshman Christina Murillo (Ojai, Calif./Nordhoff) of the University of Michigan women's soccer team helped their respective countries qualify for this summer's FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup with top-three finishes at the CONCACAF U-20 Women's Championship, which ended Sunday (March 11).
Ezurike and Zadorsky were members of the Canadian team that finished second at CONCACAF, with its only loss coming to the United States in the championship, 2-1. Murillo played with Mexico, which earned its spot in the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup by winning the third-place match over Panama, 5-0.
The FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup will be played from Aug. 19 to Sept. 8 in Japan. In addition to the three countries from CONCACAF, other countries that have qualified include host Japan, Germany, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, North Korea, South Korea, China, Argentina, and Brazil.
Though Michigan's 2012 schedule has yet to be announced, the duration of the World Cup coincides with the beginning of the collegiate season, meaning the three players could miss up to three weeks of non-conference matches.
Contact: Brad Rudner (734) 763-4423
