U.S. U-20 women’s national team coach Michelle French has named a 22-player roster for the La Manga Tournament in Spain March 2-6. The squad includes 14 players whoweren’t part of the squad that finished first at the December qualifying tournament for the 2016 U-20 Women’s World Cup.
The U.S. U-20s will face the U-23 national teams of Sweden(March 2), England (March 4) and Norway (March 6).
Twenty of the players are collegians. Because the U-20 Concacaf Championship came during the college season, French’s team at thequalifying tournament comprised of only eight collegians, and 12 high-schoolers.
Absent on the La Manga roster is regular U-20 captain Mallory Pugh, a high school senior whois with the full national team at the Olympic qualifying tournament, where she saw action in its first four games.
Ashley Sanchez, who scored three goals and had five assistsin U-20 World Cup qualifying, is with the U.S. U-17 girls national team prepping for its qualifiers in March.
The most experienced U.S. U-20s in the squad are Beach FC midfielderSavannah DeMelo (12 U-20 games) and Notre Dame defender Natalie Jacobs (11).
Five players from hail from 2015 NCAA champion Penn State and four fromquarterfinalist Stanford.
The 2016 U-20 Women’s World Cup takes place Nov. 13-Dec. 3 in Papua New Guinea.
U.S. U-20 women’s nationalteam
GOALKEEPERS (2): Rose Chandler (Penn State; Atlanta, Ga.), Casey Murphy* (Rutgers; Bridgewater, N.J.).
DEFENDERS (9): Alana Cook* (Stanford;Far Hills, N.J.), Maddie Elliston* (Penn State; Omaha, Neb.), Emily Fox (FC Virginia; Ashburn, Va.), Natalie Jacobs* (Notre Dame; Coto de Caza, Calif.), Ellie Jean* (Penn State; Coventry, Conn.),Tegan McGrady* (Stanford; San Jose, Calif.), Taylor Otto (North Carolina; Apex, N.C.), Kaleigh Riehl* (Penn State; Fairfax Station, Va.), Michelle Xiao* (Stanford; Omaha, Neb.).
MIDFIELDERS (7): Savannah DeMelo (Beach FC; Bellflower, Calif.), Jordan Dibiasi* (Stanford; Littleton, Colo.), Kelcie Hedge (Washington; Post Falls, Idaho), Emily Ogle* (Penn State;Strongsville, Ohio), Courtney Petersen* (Virginia; Canton, Mich.), Parker Roberts (Kansas; Leawood, Kan.), Mikaela Harvey (Texas A&M; Liberty Hill, Texas).
FORWARDS (4):Mimi Asom* (Princeton; Fairview, Texas), Taylor Racioppi* (Duke; Ocean Township, N.J.), Jessie Scarpa (North Carolina; Lakeland, Fla.), Ally Watt* (Texas A&M; Colorado Springs, Colo.).
*Not in squad for U-20 Women’s World Cup qualifying tournament.