Laura Harvey – Women's Soccer Express

U-20 USWNT: Roster for 2020 CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship Announced

Prologue: This has not been a normal U-20 cycle.

The departure of a head coach less than two months before qualifying is not normal.
Only holding five U-20 camps in a calendar year, with two of those camps essentially being U-19 camps, is not normal.
FIFA not deciding on a host for the Under-20 Women’s World Cup until well into the cycle’s qualifying process is, well, normal.
However, what is not normal about the host for this year’s U-20 WWC is that there are two of them: Costa Rica and Panama. As a result, CONCACAF only has two at-large spots up for grabs.

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With Laura Harvey taking the helm of the Under-20 United States Women’s National Team, some change in player selection was to be expected, but… Continue reading “U-20 USWNT: Roster for 2020 CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship Announced”

U-20 USWNT: Provisional Roster for 2020 CONCACAF Championship Released

On Monday, February 3rd, CONCACAF released the provisional rosters (PDF) for all teams participating in the final stages of the 2020 CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship, giving us clues as to which players are still in the mix for new head coach Laura Harvey’s final 20-player roster, including #1 NWSL College Draft pick Sophia Smith.

The tournament, which will be hosted by the Dominican Republic and runs from February 22nd to March 8th (full schedule), will be used to decide the two – yes, just 2 – at-large qualification slots from CONCACAF for this year’s FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica and Panama.

Continue reading “U-20 USWNT: Provisional Roster for 2020 CONCACAF Championship Released”

U-23 USWNT: Matt Potter Named Head Coach; B.J. Snow Leaves U.S. Soccer

On Thursday, January 9th, U.S. Soccer announced a pair of related staffing changes:

The hiring of former University of Oklahoma women’s soccer head coach Matt Potter as the new head coach of the Under-23 United States Women’s National Team, and
The departure of B.J. Snow, who most recently helmed the U-23 USWNT while also serving as the Director of Talent Identification for the USWNT.

These changes follow the recent hiring of Laura Harvey as the new head coach of the U-20 USWNT after December’s surprise departure of Mark Carr, coincidentally, for the vacancy created by Potter back in November (SoonerSports.com).

Continue reading “U-23 USWNT: Matt Potter Named Head Coach; B.J. Snow Leaves U.S. Soccer”

U-20 USWNT: First Camp Roster Under Laura Harvey Announced

Update (14-Jan-2020): Stanford’s Katie Meyer is the fourth goalkeeper called-in for this camp. U.S. Soccer’s original write-up for this roster only named three goalkeepers and noted that Harvey might add a fourth. Meyer was a regular call-up during the 2016 U-16 and U-17 cycles (attending 6 and 7 camps, respectively), but has only had a few call-ups since the start of 2017.

Late Wednesday, U.S. Soccer released the roster for the Under-20 United States Women’s National Team’s last full camp before CONCACAF qualifying for this year’s FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup. This camp, which runs from January 9th to the 20th, will be the first camp helmed by recently installed head coach Laura Harvey. Of the 25 players called in so far, at least 18 attended the Nike Friendlies camp in December, and just one of the players participated in December’s senior USWNT identification camp: Brianna Pinto of North Carolina.

External Link: New U-20 WNT Head Coach Laura Harvey Calls 25 Players To Pre-Qualifying Training Camp In Florida (U.S. Soccer)

Stanford’s Sophia Smith, another attendee of the USWNT identification camp, is once again unavailable due to a senior USWNT call-up. Curiously, the other two U-20 call-ups of December’s identification camp are absent: Center backs Naomi Girma of Stanford and Maycee Bell of North Carolina. Girma was withdrawn from the identification camp for what seemed to have been a minor injury. Continue reading “U-20 USWNT: First Camp Roster Under Laura Harvey Announced”

U-20 USWNT: Laura Harvey Hired as Head Coach

On Monday, following last month’s surprise departure of Mark Carr for a head coaching position at the University of Oklahoma, U.S. Soccer announced that now-former Utah Royals FC head coach Laura Harvey will be leading the Under-20 United States Women’s National Team.

Harvey’s first duties include overseeing the current U-20 USWNT camp, which runs from January 9th to the 20th. After that, her first international matches as head coach will be the CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship in February, which are the qualifiers for this year’s FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup. Harvey’s duties will also include “manag[ing] the integration and programming of the U-18 and U-19 [Women] National Teams.” Continue reading “U-20 USWNT: Laura Harvey Hired as Head Coach”