U-18 USWNT: October 2019 Camp Roster – 39 Players, 10 First-Timers

Earlier this week, U.S. Soccer announced that a U-18 USWNT camp is currently being held at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida (USSoccer.com). Mark Carr, who is the head coach of the U-20 USWNT, called in a total of 39 players, all born in 2002, for this camp, which started on Tuesday, October 1st and finishes a week later, on the 8th.  Ten of those players have been called into their first youth national team camp.

Curiously, the number of camp attendees – 39 players – is significantly larger than normal for U-18 USWNT domestic camps, as they typically have had around 24 players during the last U-18 cycle (2017-2018). 

As the U-18 USWNT’s target tournament, the 2022 Under-20 FIFA Women’s World Cup, is still three years away, the primary purpose of this youth team is to identify and players for the next U-20 cycle’s pool, while a secondary purpose is to identify younger players who could be in the mix for the current U-20 cycle.

This is just the second (announced) U-18 WNT camp of 2019 and the year’s first (announced) domestic camp.**  In February, the U-18s traveled to England for a pair of matches against their English cohorts (USSoccer.com).  From that roster, twelve of the fourteen players with 2002 birth years were recalled.  The remaining six players, who were all born in 2003 or 2004  are all core members of the  U-17 USWNT.

**Camp and roster announcements for secondary youth teams (U-15, U-16, U-18, and U-19) have been rare so far this year.  It’s possible that U.S. Soccer has failed to publish roster for some secondary YNT camps this year. (And, in fact, did fail to do so for at least one U-20 camp this year, in June, during the WWC.)

For comparison, in 2017, the U-18 USWNT also traveled to England in February, then had three domestic camps by the time they held a fourth domestic camp in October.  A fifth domestic camp was held in November.

One plausible cause for the lack of domestic camps is that the U-18 USWNT has been without a permanent head coach since the start of 2019, when Jaime Frias rejoined Virginia’s coaching staff. (VirginiaSports.com)  For the February camp, February, U-17 USWNT head coach Tracey Kevins was in charge.  And, as mentioned above, U-20 head coach Mark Carr is in charge of this camp.

The lack of domestic camps so far this cycle could also explain the larger than normal number of attendees:  First, because of the need to “catch up” on identifying players for the next U-20 cycle pool, and, secondly, the lack of camps so far likely means that more money was available from the youth national teams budget.

U-18 USWNT OCTOBER 2019 CAMP ROSTER

The following roster has been adapted from the one published by U.S. Soccer.  NCAA verbal commit information, if available, has been appended, along with high school graduation year.   Bolded entries indicate players who have not been previously called into a full U.S. youth camp. (For those entries, an asterisk has been added at the end as as additional indicator.)

Goalkeepers (4):

  • Taylor Fox (West Florida Flames; Titusville, Fla.; South Carolina, 2020)
  • Leah Freeman (Mustang SC; Berkley, Calif.; Oregon, 2020)
  • Mia Justus (IMG Academy; Amherst, Ohio; n/a, 2020)
  • Alia Skinner (United Soccer Alliance; Fleming Island, Fla.; Virginia Tech)

Defenders (9):

  • Abby Allen (Lonestar SC Academy; Austin, Texas; North Carolina, 2020)
  • Nya Harrison (San Diego Surf; San Diego, Calif.; Stanford, 2021)
  • Smith Hunter (Reign Academy; Seattle, Wash.; Harvard, 2020)
  • Tabitha LaParl (So Cal Blues SC; Lakewood, Calif. Pepperdine, 2021)
  • Emily Mason (Players Development Academy; Flemington, N.J.; Rutgers, 2021)
  • Emma Misal (Penn Fusion Soccer Academy; Mechanicsburg, Pa.; Rutgers, 2020)*
  • Madison Perez (Legends FC; West Covina, Calif.; Long Beach State, 2020)
  • Karly Reeves (San Diego Surf; San Diego, Calif.; Santa Clara, 2020)*
  • Paige Tolentino (NC Courage; Pinehurst, N.C.; Pittsburgh, 2020)

Midfielders (12):

  • Margaret Boade (Real Colorado; Highlands Ranch, Colo.; Northwestern, 2020)*
  • Aislynn Crowder (Hawaii Rush; Mililani, Hawaii; UCLA, 2020)
  • Cailey England (Lonestar SC Academy; Dripping Springs, Texas; Oklahoma, 2020)*
  • Alexa Gonzalez (Legends FC; Riverside, Calif.; USC, 2020)
  • Kayleen Gowers (San Jose Earthquakes; Los Altos, Calif.; Princeton, 2020)
  • Isabel Loza (LAFC Slammers; La Mirada, Calif.; UCLA, 2020)
  • Emily Mathews (Nationals; Macomb, Mich.; Purdue, 2020)
  • Amber Nguyen (Tophat; Snellville, Ga.; Vanderbilt, 2020)
  • Michaela Rosenbaum (Star Academy; Santa Rosa, Calif.; UCLA, 2020)
  • Madeline Simpson (Tophat; Atlanta, Ga.; Virginia, 2021)*
  • Hannah Waesch (Solar SC; The Colony, Texas; Auburn, 2020)*
  • Aki Yuasa (GPS Vermont Synergy FC; Charlotte, Vt.; n/a, 2021)

Forwards (14):

  • Abigail Borchers (San Jose Earthquakes; Fresno, Calif.; California, 2020)
  • Michelle Cooper (IMG Academy; Clarkston, Mich.; Duke, 2021)
  • Talia DellaPeruta (Koln/GER; Cumming, Ga.; North Carolina, 2020)
  • Jazlynn Ellis (Real Colorado; Parker, Colo.; Illinois-Chicago, 2020)
  • Mollie Griswold (Arizona Arsenal SC; Gilbert, Ariz., North Carolina, 2020)
  • Dilary Heredia-Beltran (Sporting Blue Valley; Overland Park, Kan.; n/a, 2021)
  • Samantha Kroeger (World Class FC; West Milford, N.J.; Rutgers, 2020)
  • Paige Lacey (Portland Thorns FC; Central Point, Ore.; n/a, 2021)*
  • Quincy McMahon (Real Colorado; Highlands Ranch, Colo., UCLA, 2021)*
  • Asha Means (Charlotte Soccer Academy; Huntersville, N.C., North Carolina, 2021)*
  • Olivia Migli (FC Virginia; Haymarket, Va.; Duke, 2020)
  • Trinity Rodman (So Cal Blues SC; Laguna Niguel, Calif.; UCLA, 2020)
  • Reilyn Turner (So Cal Blues SC; Laguna Beach, Calif.; UCLA, 2020)
  • Grace Watkins (LAFC Slammers; Manhattan Beach, Calif.; Duke, 2020)*

NOTABLES

  • Three players were on the USA’s 2018 U-17 WWC roster:  Defenders Smith Hunter and Talia DellaPuerta, plus forward Trinity Rodman.
  • Nine players attended the last U-20 WNT, which was held in August at the Chula Vista facility.  That camp predominantly featured non-collegiate players.
    • Attendees at that camp were goalkeeper Mia Justus; defenders Madison Perez and Paige Tolentino; midfielders Emily Mathews, Amber Ngyuen, and Aki Yuasa; and forwards Reilyn Turner and Samantha Kroeger.
    • Perez and Kroeger were replacements for Allen and Rodman, who were on the original roster.
  • Midfielder Aki Yuasa and defender Paige Tolentino both return for their second camp after being first-time attendees at the August U-20 camp.
  • As noted above, ten players are first-time attendees. All ten are on Development Academy teams.
  • Eighteen other players have between two and ten camps under their belts, while the remaining eleven players have eleven or more caps.
  • DellaPuerta, Kroeger, Justus, Hunter, Rodman, and Turner have the most youth national team experience, with each attending at least fifteen youth camps.
  • First-time attendee Margaret “Meg” Boade is the younger sister of Tess (Theresa) Boade,  a junior midfielder/forward for Duke (goduke.com profile), who also has youth national team experience, as she attended a handful of youth camps, including a U-17 trip to the Korea Republic in 2014.

 

Data sources:  Expected high school graduation years are primarily taken from U.S. Soccer Development Academy profiles for DA players.  Graduation years for non-DA players and NCAA verbal commit information are mostly pulled from TopDrawerSoccer.com player profiles.

Camp counts for players are compiled from USSoccer.com roster announcements.  Rarely (but not unexpectedly), some camp rosters may not be published at all or may only be announced in emailed press releases.  The latter announcements are typically published by SoccerWire.com and TopDrawerSoccer.com.  So, it is possible that these counts may be incomplete.

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