The U.S. Paralympic Soccer Team finalized their roster last week for the 2004 Paralympic Games, which will be held in Athens this September. The 12-player roster was selected while the team was at training camp from June 12-18 at the ARCO Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif.

The draw for the Paralympic games is scheduled for June 26, and first-round games will take place Sept. 19, 21, 23.  Should the U.S. advance through their group, the semifinal game will take place Sept. 25, and the medal round will be on Sept. 27.  These matches will be played at the field hockey stadium in the Hiliniko Olympic Sports Complex.

Next up for the team will be a weeklong training camp beginning July 26 in Moorpark, Calif. After a little more than two weeks off, the team will return to Moorpark for a second stint in training from August 17-22. They will head to Washington D.C. on Sept. 8 for team processing, and will leave for Greece on Sept. 10.

The U.S. Paralympic Soccer Team qualified for the Paralympic Games with a sixth-place finish at the Paralympic World Championship played in Buenos Aires, Argentina from Oct. 10-22, 2003. The top eight teams in the 11-team tournament all qualified for the 2004 Paralympic Games.

The U.S. went 2-2 in group play, qualifying for a fifth-place placement game against Ireland and thus guaranteeing the team a spot in Athens in 2004. The U.S. lost their placement game to Ireland 3-1 on Oct. 20 to finish the tournament with a 2-3 record. Ten of the 12 players from qualifying were named to the final roster for the Paralymics, with Derek Arneaud and Chris Wolf as the most recent additions to the squad.

Paralympic soccer is played with seven players per side, across 30-minute halves, with athletes qualifying for the competition by having Cerebral Palsy, Traumatic Brain Disorder or having survived a stroke.

Official Paralympic Soccer Roster
No. Pos. Name   Hometown
2       D     John Theobald   Syracuse, N.Y.
3     D/M     Dave Woosnam  Roswell, Ga.
5     F       Josh Blue  Denver, Colo.
7      M/F     Derek Arneaud  East Stroudsburg, Pa.
8      M       Tom Latsch  Cleveland, Ohio
9       D/M    Jason Slemons  Eagle River, Alaska
10     F     Eli Wolff  Boston, Mass.
15      D     Chris Wolf  Gainesville, Fla.
14     D     Jon McCullough  Washington, D.C.
16     M     Josh McKinney   Princeton, W.V.
17    M/D     Mike Peters   Seattle, Wash.
18    GK     Keith Johnson  Anchorage, Alaska
 
Head Coach: Jay Hoffman
Asst. Coach: Mike Haas

For more information, contact the U.S. Paralympic Soccer Team at www.usparalympics.org or parsoccer@hotmail.com.