After two largely disappointing displays and early elimination from title contention, the U.S. under-19 women's team broke out in Saturday's finale at the four-nation tournament in Carson, Calif., routing China, 4-0, as Angie Woznuk netted a pair of goals.

Japan, which clinched the Philips Lighting Women's Tournament championship with a victory Thursday night over the Americans, swept the event's awards after tying the Netherlands, 2-2, in Saturday's first game at the Home Depot Center.

Aya Miyama won the MVP and Top Scorer awards, and the Japanese added the Fair Play trophy.

Woznuk, a freshman at the University of Portland, had missed the first two U.S. matches, but her presence Saturday made all the difference. A crafty attacker and expert dribbler with superb vision, she picked apart China's defense as the Americans dominated every phase of the game.

Paired up front with Notre Dame recruit Kerri Hanks in the first half and future Portland teammate Megan Rapinoe in the second half, Woznuk added dimensions to the U.S. game that had been missing in Tuesday's victory over Holland and Thursday's loss to Japan.

''[Woznuk] adds a little bit of creativity and a little magic into the game for us,'' U.S. coach Mark Krikorian said. ''She can read the play very well. She's a couple passes ahead of the game, and she sees things sooner than most of the players do, and she knows how to find the seams. And she also has the quality of making the final pass and finishing, and those are pretty good qualities.''

The Americans went ahead just 42 seconds into the match, when Chinese defender Guo Yue turned Hanks' cross into her goal, and Alexa Orand, a high school sophomore from Orange, Calif., made it 2-0 in the 10th minute after Stanford's Rachel Buehler flicked on a long throw-in from UCLA's Stacy Lindstrom.

Woznuk added goals in the 38th and 68th minutes, the first from Portland teammate Stephanie Lopez's feed and the second from a superb through ball from Virginia All-American Becky Sauerbrunn.

Krikorian used the closest thing to a first-choice starting lineup, with North Carolina-bound Ashlyn Harris in the nets, Penn State recruit Sheree Gray and New Jersey high-schooler Yael Averbuch in midfield, and Lopez and Notre Dame's Jen Buczkowski flanking central defenders Buehler and Sauerbrunn.

Buehler played in the middle in the first half and on the right flank in the second half, with Lindstrom moving from holding midfielder to central defense and Buczkowski from outside back to holding midfielder at halftime.

UCLA's Bristyn Davis and Stephanie Kron had solid performances after coming on in the second half.

Harris halted Wang Yihang at the top of the U.S. box in stoppage time, but was otherwise untested. The Americans outshot China, 11-0.

Miyama, easily the best player in the tournament, sent a 30-yard free kick to upper-left corner to send Japan ahead of Holland in the 13th minute.

Manon Melis evened the score on a 64th-minute breakaway, but Mami Yamguchi knocked home a rebound three minutes later to restore Japan's advantage. Anouk Dekker made it 2-2 in the 77th, tallying after goalkeeper Haruna Tsutsumi punched away Marjan Brouwer's free kick.

The tournament was the final get-together for the U.S. squad before heading to Canada next month for the CONCACAF U-19 qualifying tournament. The other three teams also are preparing for qualifying matches, with all aiming for the Nov. 10-27 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship in Thailand.

Krikorian is expected to announce his 18-player qualifying roster in mid-May.

All three U.S. matches were played on the Home Depot Center's Training Field 5, which has field turf. The May 28-June 6 CONCACAF qualifiers in Montreal and Ottawa also will be played on field turf.

The other matches were played on the adjacent Training Field 4, which has grass.

China's U-19 team will remain in Southern California, with matches scheduled against UCLA and Loyola Marymount. The U.S. and Dutch teams also took in the Los Angeles Galaxy-D.C. United on Saturday night at the Home Depot Center.

PHILIPS LIGHTING WOMEN'S INVITATIONAL
UNDER-19 TOURNAMENT
at Home Depot Center (Carson)
Final Standings

W L T GF GA Pts
 Japan 2 0 1 5 3 7
United States 2 1 0 6 1 6
China 1 2 0 2 6 3
Netherlands 0 2 1 2 5 1

Tuesday, April 6
China 1 (Liu 15) Japan 2 (Kubota 44, Yamguchi 80)
United States 2 (Hanks 3, Orand 79) Netherlands 0

Thursday, April 8
China 1 (You 6) Netherlands 0
United States 0 Japan 1 (Miyama 79)

Saturday, April 10
Japan 2 (Miyama 13, Yamguchi 67) Netherlands 2 (Melis 64, Dekker 77)
United States 4 (own goal Y. Guo 1, Orand 10, Woznuk 38, 68) China 0

TOURNAMENT AWARDS
Champion Japan
MVP: Aya Miyama (Japan)
Top Scorer: Aya Miyama (Japan), 2 goals, 2 assists
Fair Play: Japan

SATURDAY'S SUMMARIES

United States 4 China 0. Goals: own goal Y. Guo 1, Orand 10, Woznuk 38, 68.

United States — Harris; Buczkowski, Buehler, Sauerbrunn, Lopez; Lindstrom; Gray (Kron, 58), Averbuch (Redmond, 46), Orand; Hanks (Rapinoe, 46), Woznuk (B. Davis, 75).

China — Weng Xiaojie; Gao (Lou, 74), Y. Guo, Y. Sun (D. Wang, 89), L. Guo; Hou; Fan, You (Weng Xinzhi, 51), L. Sun (Zhang, 84); Xu, Liu (Y. Wang, 75).

Yellow card: U.S. — B. Davis 90.

Referee: Baldomero Toledo (U.S.).

Att.: 500.

Japan 2 Netherlands 2. Goals: Miyama 13, Yamguchi 67; Melis 64, Dekker 77.

Japan — Tsutsumi; Higashiyama (Iwashimizu, 63), Nakaoka, Okuda (Utsugi, 82), Yamazaki; Kawasumi, Toyoda, Minamiyama (Ito, 46), Miyama (Sakaguchi, 46); Kubota (Sato, 46), Yamguchi.

Netherlands — Olthuis; Snoeck, Bijl, Hoogendijk (Leeuwen, 46), Hogewoning (van Dalen, 46); Melis, de Vries, Brouwer (Bakker, 82), Smit (Brummel, 72); Dekker, van de Ven.

Yellow card: Japan — Minaniyama 21, Ito 76.

Referee: Dallas Malhewsky (U.S.).

Att.: 75.