U-20s Return to NTC in Carson to Prep for June Tournament

The U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team will hold a training camp from May 9-18 at the U.S. Soccer National Training Center in Carson, California, with 24 players invited.

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Roster by Position:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Samantha Leshnak (Ohio Elite; Liberty Township, Ohio), Casey Murphy (Rutgers; Bridgewater, N.J.), Caroline Brockmeier (Florida State; Tallahassee, Fla.)
DEFENDERS (7): Alana Cook (Match Fit FC; Far Hills, N.J.), Maddie Elliston (Penn State; Omaha, Neb.), Sabrina Flores (Notre Dame; Livingston, N.J.), Natalie Jacobs (Slammers FC; Coto de Caza, Calif.), Courtney Petersen (Michigan Hawks; Canton, Mich.), Kaleigh Riehl (Penn State; Fairfax Station, Va.), Jessie Scarpa (UNC; Lakeland, Fla.)
MIDFIELDERS (10): Jorian Baucom (LSU; Phoenix, Az.), Megan Buckingham (UNC; Novi, Mich.), Marley Canales (San Diego Surf; San Diego, Calif.), Savannah DeMelo (Beach FC; Bellflower, Calif.), Jordan Harr (Dallas Sting; Sachse, Texas), Mikaela Harvey (Texas A&M; Liberty Hill, Texas), Gabrielle Matulich (UCLA; Los Gatos, Calif.), Emily Ogle (Penn State; Strongsville, Ohio), Katie Cousins (Tennessee; Forest, Va.), Ashley Sanchez (So Cal Blues; Monrovia, Calif.)
FORWARDS (4): Kelcie Hedge (Washington Premier FC; Post Falls, Idaho), Mallory Pugh (Real Colorado; Highlands Ranch, Colo.), Taylor Racioppi (PDA; Ocean Township, N.J.), Katie Pingel (So Cal Blues; Torrance, Calif.)
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Also announced was a four team U-20 tournament to be held at the NTC in Carson from June 2-6 (that final is also the opening day for group play of the senior Women’s World Cup). The other three teams will be Japan, Brazil and Mexico; a very good challenge for the young team. US Soccer says all the game will be broadcast on ussoccer.com. If it’s like the U-17 NTC tournament earlier this year, this will mean being streamed – and archived – on Youtube, which is great news.

Four players are new to the team. Foremost is Ashley Sanchez, who has been a star for the U-17s over the last year, and was mysteriously left off the roster for the U-17 camp being held at the same time as this one, but in Chula Vista, CA. It turns out she’s been brought in to train with the older team, “for this camp”.

From the wording, it appears that Sanchez will only be with the U-20s for this one camp, but we will see if she will be be brought to the NTC tournament as well. It would shocking, to put it mildly, if the powers-that-be are thinking of bringing Sanchez up to the U-20s for this cycle; it would remove the U-17s most reliable scoring threat and one of their best players, while Sanchez would be somewhat redundant on the U-20s (chemistry is another matter, of course…) But that’s speculation at this point.

The other new three players are Alana Cook and Jorian Baucom, who were both in the U-19 camp just last month; and Kathleen Pingel. Cook was in a few U-17 camps early last year, one of them with Ashley Sanchez. Baucom last call-up was with the U-17s in 2012, Pingel’s last was with the U-17s in 2013.

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