Dec. 5, 2008

LAS VEGAS - UNLV head coach Kat Mertz and the U.S. U-20 National team are just one game away from a world championship, as the team defeated Germany 1-0 in the semifinals of the 2008 FIFA Women's World Cup on Thursday in Coquimbo, Chile. USA, for who Mertz has been an assistant coach for since the summer of 2007, will now play North Korea on Sunday, Dec. 7 at 1:30 pm in a game televised by ESPN2.

The championship game will matchup the 2002 World Champions (the U.S. won the tournament when it was a U-19 event), and the 2006 World Champion North Korea squad, who earned its way into the final after defeated France in the other semifinal contest. Sunday's game will be USA's first appearance in the championship game since 2002

Mertz started her association with the Under-20 National team in the summer of 2007, when she was an assistant coach in the team's training camp that was help in Maryland. She then became part of the coaching staff earlier this year and helped see them qualify for the FIFA World Cup, as well as helping them to the championship game of the CONCACAF Tournament in Mexico this summer.