CHICAGO (Dec. 27, 2019) – U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Vlatko Andonovski has named a 28-player roster for the USA’s annual January training camp, this year to be staged in Tampa, Fla., from Jan. 5-15. Following the camp, Andonovski will name the 20-player roster for Olympic Qualifying.
GOALKEEPERS (4): Jane Campbell (Houston Dash; 3/0), Adrianna Franch (Portland Thorns FC; 3/0), Ashlyn Harris (Orlando Pride; 24/0), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars; 57/0)
DEFENDERS (9): Abby Dahlkemper (North Carolina Courage; 53/0), Tierna Davidson (Chicago Red Stars; 25/1), Crystal Dunn (North Carolina Courage; 96/24), Ali Krieger (Orlando Pride; 104/2), Kelley O’Hara (Utah Royals FC; 125/2), Margaret Purce (Portland Thorns FC; 1/0), Becky Sauerbrunn (Utah Royals FC; 171/0), Casey Short (Chicago Red Stars; 31 /0), Emily Sonnett (Portland Thorns FC; 40/0)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Morgan Brian (Chicago Red Stars; 87/8), Julie Ertz (Chicago Red Stars; 95/19), Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns FC; 78/12), Rose Lavelle (Washington Spirit; 38/10), Allie Long (Reign FC; 51/8), Samantha Mewis (North Carolina Courage; 60/14), Andi Sullivan (Washington Spirit; 15/0)
FORWARDS (8): Tobin Heath (Portland Thorns FC; 162/32), Carli Lloyd (Sky Blue FC; 288/121), Jessica McDonald (North Carolina Courage; 14/2), Christen Press (Utah Royals FC; 130/51), Mallory Pugh (Washington Spirit; 62/18), Megan Rapinoe (Reign FC; 160/50), Sophia Smith (Stanford; 0/0), Lynn Williams (North Carolina Courage; 21/6)
“The players are coming off their break, so I know everyone will be excited, rested, refreshed and ready to tackle our next goals, which are having a productive training camp and preparing for Olympic Qualifying,” said Andonovski. “A long-time strength of this team has been the internal competition on the training field and our coaching staff is looking forward to seeing that during camp as it will help us pick the best team to take to qualifying and try to earn our berth to Tokyo.”
The roster features 22 of the 23 players from the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup champions as well as five top NWSL players and 19-year-old forward Sophia Smith, who is the youngest player in camp, the only uncapped player and the only non-professional. She is a rising junior at Stanford. Three players on this roster – Smith, Portland Thorns FC defender Margaret “Midge” Purce and Houston Dash goalkeeper Jane Campbell – attended the USA’s December Identification Camp in Florida.
Sixteen of the 18 players who made the 2016 Olympic Team were part of the roster for the 2016 January Camp.
Meanwhile, 15 of the players on this roster were a part of the USA’s 2016 Olympic Qualifying team.
The only 2019 World Cup champion who is not on the roster is Alex Morgan, who is pregnant.
Carli Lloyd comes into 2020 with 121 goals in 288 caps. She needs nine goals to catch Kristine Lilly for third on the USA’s all-time list.
Ashlyn Harris and Morgan Brian are two players on the roster with youth soccer ties to Florida. Harris hails from Satellite Beach, while Brian played most of her youth career in Jacksonville for the Ponte Vedra Soccer Club, which is now the United Soccer Alliance.
The USA will begin its quest to qualify for the 2020 Olympics when they take on Haiti on Tuesday, Jan. 28. The USA will then face Panama on Friday, Jan. 31 before finishing Group A play against Costa Rica on Monday, Feb. 3. All three group games will be played at BBVA Stadium in Houston, Texas.
The semifinals of Olympic qualifying will be played on Feb. 7 at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif. and the championship game will be on Feb. 9, also at DHSP.
Smith was the 2017 U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year and helped Stanford to this year’s NCAA Championship, bagging a hat trick in the semifinal and converting her penalty kick in the shootout during the title match.
