Roster: U.S. U-20 women head to England & Germany

• by Mike Woitalla  @MikeWoitalla, Jun 27, 2017

Coach Jitka Klimkova  is taking a U.S. U-20 women’s national team squad of 24 on a four-game European tour June 30-July 13 for a pair of games against both England and Germany. Her roster includes 11 players who have played in the U-20 or U-17 Women’s World Cup last year, and five players who have trained with the senior U.S. national team.

Midfielders Tierna Davidson, Brianna Pinto and Jaelin Howell, and forwards Ashley Sanchez and Sophia Smith have already been called up to a full national team training camp with Coach Jill Ellis.

Sophia Smith

Eleven players of the players were born in 1998 (the cutoff year for the 2018 U-20 World Cup), 10 are 1999-born, and two, Pinto and Smith, were born in 2000.

“These are great opportunities for us to have more international games against strong opponents, which is exactly what we need to get better as a team and individuals,” said Klimkova. “We’re still in the beginning of the cycle so every experience we get to really test ourselves overseas is going to help the growth of the team.”

The USA faces England July 5 and July 7 and Germany July 10 and July 12.

U.S. U-20 women’s national team
GOALKEEPERS (3): Brooke Heinsohn (Duke; Norfolk, Mass.), Laurel Ivory (West Florida Flames; Surfside, Fla.), Mandy McGlynn (Virginia Tech; Jacksonville, Fla.).
DEFENDERS (8): Emily Fox (North Carolina; Chapel Hill, N.C), Naomi Girma (Central Valley Crossfire; San Jose, Calif.), Samantha Hiatt (Crossfire SC; Newcastle, Wash.), Tara McKeown (San Diego Surf; Newbury Park, Calif.), Zoe Morse (Virginia; East Lansing, Mich), Karlie Paschall (Tenessee SC; Brentwood, Tenn.), Isabel Rodriguez (Michigan Hawks; Canton, Mich.), Sophia Serafin (West Coast FC; Glendora, Calif.).
MIDFIELDERS (7): Tierna Davidson (Stanford; Menlo Park, Calif.), Savannah DeMelo (USC; Bellflower, Calif.), Jaelin Howell (Real Colorado; Windsor, Colo.), Arlie Jones (San Diego Surf; Las Vegas, Nev.), Taylor Kornieck (Colorado; Henderson, Nev.), Brianna Pinto (CASL; Durham, N.C.), Viviana Villacorta (Beach FC; Lawndale, Calif.).
FORWARDS (6): Parker Goins (TSC Hurricane: Broken Arrow, Okla.), Abigail Kim (California; Vashon, Wash.), Civiana Kuhlmann (Colorado Rush; Littleton, Colo.), Ashley Sanchez (So Cal Blues; Monrovia, Calif), Sophia Smith (Real Colorado; Windsor, Colo.), Kelsey Turnbow (SC Del Sol; Scottsdale; Ariz.).