On Wednesday, U.S. Soccer released the roster for an Under-15 Girls’ National Team talent identification camp which is currently underway at U.S. Soccer’s National Development Center in Kansas.* A total of 59 players, all born in 2005, are attending the camp, which is being led by U.S. Soccer Director of (Girls’) Talent Identification Mirelle van Rijbroek.
*U.S. Soccer’s roster write-up was published online Wednesday afternoon, but backdated to Sunday, the 6th.
At least thirteen of the players attended a U-14 GNT camp in 2018, including the four 2005’ers who were on the USA’s 2018 CONCACAF Girls’ U-15 Championship roster: Olivia Moultrie, Maggie Taitano, Gisele Thompson, and Amelia Van Zanten. (For that tournament, the USA sent a U-14 team that consisted of players born in 2004 and 2005.) Moultrie, Taitano, and Thompson also attended the only U-16 USGNT camp so far this year, which was held in the Netherlands, back in June (U.S. Soccer).
Of the 59 players, 19 hail from California. Other states with three or more attendees are New Jersey (5), Texas (5), and Georgia (3). Twenty other states are represented, including seven states that have two attendees.
Supporting van Rijbroek at the camp are “U-17 WNT head coach Tracey Kevins and the three Girls’ Talent Identification Managers: Katie Cole (Central Region), Diane Drake (East) and Marieke Laurens (West).”
For the players invited to this camp, who were all born in 2005, their target youth tournament is the 2022 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, which will have a cut-off birth year of 2005. Additionally, it is likely that a few of these 2005’ers are in the mix for the current cycle’s U-17 USWNT and could make it onto an official roster, either for CONCACAF qualifying, and/or, should the USA qualify, the 2020 U-17 WWC. These players are also eligible for the 2020 CONCACAF Girls’ U-15 Championship, but it is not yet publicly known whether U.S. Soccer will send a U-15 team or, like last year, send a younger U-14 squad.
At least four players have older sisters with USA youth national team experience:
- Treasure Byars is the younger sister of U-17 USWNT standout forward Trinity Byars. (You can read more about Trinity Byars, here.) Their older sister, Tatyana, is on the roster for Texas’ soccer team.
- Kiera Staude is the younger sister of UVA’s Talia Staude (UVA profile), who was on the USA’s squad for last year’s Under-17 Women’s World Cup.
- Gisele Thompson is the younger sister of 2004’er Alyssa Thompson. Both Thompson sisters were on the USA’s U-14 GNT for last year’s CONCACAF U-15 Girls’ Championship.
- Amelia “Mimi” Van Zanten is the younger sister of Notre Dame’s Kalyssa “Kiki” Van Zanten (Notre Dame profile), who is a veteran of over a dozen USA youth camps and was part of the U-15 USGNT that won the 2016 CONCACAF U-15 Girls’ Championship.
More Notables:
- Goalkeeper Valentina Amaral is listed as having Brazilian nationality, per her DA profile.
- Kennedy Bell has already verbally committed to North Carolina, per her Twitter account.
- Samantha “Sammy” Smith is also a highly-ranked competitive freestyle skier. (2017 Idaho Statesman article on her and her older sister, SVSEF.com write-up) In March, she finished 5th overall in moguls at the U.S. Freestyle Junior Nationals (2019 results, PDF file). Her father, Steve Smith, played collegiate soccer for Duke (1990-1993), captaining the team in 1993. Current U-23 USMNT head coach Jason Kreis (Wikipedia) was also a captain for the Blue Devils that year. (Duke men’s soccer media guide)
NCAA verbal commit decisions are not available for most players, as it is still a bit early in the recruiting cycle for these players, most of whom will graduate high school in 2023 or 2024. Quick cursory online searches (“player name soccer”) were done for all players, just to see if any notable details were available.
U-15 GNT – 2019 Talent ID Camp (Kansas City) Roster
Notes: Bolded players have already attended at least one USA youth camp. (An asterisk has been added at the end of the entry as an additional visual indicator.) Bolded and italicized players were also on the USA’s 2018 CONCACAF Girls’ U-15 Championship roster. (Double asterisks have been added at the end of these entries as an additional visual indicator.) Club and hometown information has not been altered from the list provided by U.S. Soccer, except to correct a style error.^
^U.S. Soccer’s write-up used “Id.,” instead of “Idaho”, which is one of several state names that are always spelled out, per A.P. style. (Poynter.org), as “Id.” is a common academic and legal abbreviation in citations for the Latin word “idem.” (Wiktionary)
GOALKEEPERS (6):
- Valentina Amaral (Florida Kraze Krush; Oviedo, Fla.)
- Jamie Campbell (Real So Cal; Newbury Park, Calif.)
- Amaris Franco (So Cal Blues; Pasadena, Calif.)
- Kyla Holmes (STA Development Academy; Newton, N.J.)
- Tanner Ijams (Beach FC; El Segundo, Calif.)
- Adelyn Todd (Real Colorado; Littleton, Colo.)
DEFENDERS (10):
- Hailey Baumann (Michigan Hawks; South Lyon, Mich.)
- Savannah King (Real So Cal; West Hills, Calif.)
- Cameron Roller (FC Dallas; Frisco, Texas)
- Kiera Staude (Tophat; Atlanta, Ga.)
- Sierra Sythe (Beach FC; Long Beach, Calif.)
- Gisele Thompson (Real So Cal; Studio City, Calif.)**
- Abigail Unkraut (Cincinnati Development Academy; Burlington, Ky.)
- Amelia Van Zanten (Eclipse Select; Buffalo Grove, Ill.)**
- Emma Wang (San Jose Earthquakes; San Carlos, Calif.)
- Samantha Weiss (Reign Academy; Mercer Island, Wash.)
MIDFIELDERS (28):
- Jasmine Aikey (Mountain View Los Altos; Palo Alto, Calif.)*
- Ella Carter (The St. James FC Virginia; Leesburg, Va.)
- Anna Castenfelt (Phoenix Rising FC; Phoenix, Ariz.)*
- Gabrielle Ceballos (Classics Elite Soccer Club; San Antonio, Texas)
- Halle Dixon (Houston Dash; New Orleans, La.)*
- Emily Ennis (San Jose Earthquakes; Burlingame, Calif.)
- Shae Harvey (LAFC Slammers; Hermosa Beach, Calif.)
- Riley Jackson (Concorde Fire; Roswell, Ga.)
- Grace Jackson (Internationals; Hudson, Ohio)
- Joelle Jung (Mountain View Los Altos; San Jose, Calif.)*
- Madison Krakower (Cedar Stars Academy-Monmouth; Wayne, N.J.)*
- Audrey Lam (Lamorinda SC; Piedmont, Calif.)
- Andrea Leyva (Heat FC; Las Vegas, Nev.)
- Kate Mallory (Concorde Fire; Avondale Estates, Ga.)
- Olivia Marrone (Players Development Academy; Marlton, N.J.)
- Lauren Martinho (NC Courage; Cary, N.C.)
- Olivia Moultrie (Portland Thorns FC; Portland, Ore.)**
- Ashley Pennie (Weston FC; Miami, Fla.)
- Melina Rebimbas (Players Development Academy; Warren, N.J.)*
- Morgan Roy (Nationals; Commerce Township, Mich.)*
- Megan Santa Cruz (LA Surf; Burbank, Calif.)
- Maggie Taitano (San Diego Surf; Carlsbad, Calif.)**
- Viet-Thy Tran (San Jose Earthquakes; Santa Clara, Calif.)
- Francesca Valverde (FC Stars; Grafton, Mass.)
- Anya Van Den Einde (San Diego Surf; San Diego, Calif.)
- Elizabet Velkova (Reign Academy; Lynnwood, Wash.)
- Ava Verplancke (So Cal Blues; Irvine, Calif.)
- Kayla Wong (Players Development Academy; Manalapan, N.J.)
FORWARDS (15):
- Kennedy Bell (Charlotte Soccer Academy; Cornelius, N.C.)
- Treasure Byars (Solar Soccer Club; Richardson, Texas)*
- Taylor Cheatham (FC Dallas; Plano, Texas)
- Lillian Danner (Cincinnati Development Academy; Cincinnati, Ohio)*
- Mila Erceg (IMG Academy; East Meadow, N.Y.)
- Brooke Fabri (Phoenix Rising FC; Phoenix, AZ)
- Erica Grilione (Placer United; Roseville, Calif.)
- Nicollette Kiorpes (NEFC; Worcester, Mass.)
- Julia Motuzick (Oakwood Soccer Academy; Glastonbury, Conn.)
- Cameron Patton (Lonestar SC; Austin, Texas)
- Samantha Smith (Boise Thorns; Boise, Idaho)
- Madison Stormberg (FC Dallas; Nashville, Tenn.)
- Valerie Vargas Arceo (LA Galaxy; Pico Rivera, Calif.)
- Sydney Watts (Sporting Blue Valley; Lenexa, Kan.)
- Addison Whitehouse (Colorado Rush; Littleton, Colo.)
For more news about the USWNT’s youth teams, please see the “Under-xx Teams” section of this website.
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