[U.S. UNDER-23 WOMEN] U.S. women’s national team coach Pia Sundhage will get a chance to look at some of thecountry’s top young talent at a under-23 national team camp for pro, college and high school players Oct. 2-7 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.
Sundhage, who will work with U.S.Soccer women’s development director Jill Ellis and U.S. Soccer women’s technical director April Heinrichs,will evaluate the group for possible call-ups to U.S. women’s national team camps heading into the Concacaf Olympic qualifying tournament in Vancouver in January.
“You have toget a good sense of what is out there as far as talent,” said Sundhage. “We are looking at a different system of play so we may need players with different qualities and we might find afew younger players that we can give a chance to come in with the women’s national team.”
Top-ranked Stanford, North Carolina and Wake Forest are the only schools to havemultiple players invited to the camp.
In addition to 16 college players, six (including 2011 WPS Rookie of the Year Christen Press) are pros whospent the past summer in WPS and two (Jane Campbell and Morgan Andrews) are high school juniors.
GOALKEEPERS (3): Aubrey Bledsoe (Wake Forest Univ.; Cincinnati, Ohio), Jane Campbell (Concorde FireSouth; Kennesaw, Ga.), Emily Oliver (Stanford Univ.; Flossmoor, Ill.)
DEFENDERS (4): Morgan Andrews (FC Stars of Mass.; Milford, N.H.), Amy Barczuk(Univ. of Colorado; Centennial, Colo.), Camille Levin (Stanford Univ.; Newport Coast, Calif.), Mollie Pathman (Duke Univ.; Durham, N.C.)
MIDFIELDERS(8): Morgan Brian (Univ. of Virginia; St. Simmons Island, Ga.), Amber Brooks (Univ. of North Carolina; New Hope, Pa.), Meghan Klingenberg (magicJack; Gibsonia, Pa.), Kristie Mewis (BostonCollege; Hanson, Mass.), Christine Nairn (Penn State Univ.; Arnold, Md.), Ingrid Wells (Georgetown Univ.; Upper Montclair, N.J.), Keelin Winters (Boston Breakers; Englewood, Colo.), Kylie Wright(Atlanta Beat; Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.)
FORWARDS (9): Crystal Dunn (Univ. of North Carolina; Rockville Center, N.Y.), Sarah Hagen (Univ. ofMilwaukee; Appleton, Wis.), Melissa Henderson (Univ. of Notre Dame; Garland, Texas), Sydney Leroux (UCLA; Phoenix, Ariz.), Nikki Marshall (Boston Breakers; Mead, Colo.), Christen Press (magicJack;Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.), Katie Stengel (Wake Forest Univ.; Melbourne, Fla.), Lindsay Taylor (Stanford Univ.; Redwood City, Calif.), Nikki Washington (Boston Breakers; Mesquite, Texas)
Nice idea to call in players in the middle of their season. I’m sure respecting other programs, players life experiences and educational interests is of little value. If players have to be brought to camp at this time to determine who we need to find success at the international level I fear we are too late. The National team needs to support international level players and create an environment to build a competitive team who trains together on a regular basis not just a few annual camps. Put some support and money behind a professional league these women can be a part of, do not expect them to develop at the rate needed to compete internationally at the collegiate level if the National team takes these players away from the program they committed to, honor that commitment. Working with the established programs to offer a future to these players will create a respected national team program.