U-20 WNT 2012: The Road to Where? [R]

CONCACAF 2012 U-20 WWC qualifiers are five weeks away (March 1st). There hasn't been too much news out about the team, though the groups and schedule has been set:

Group A: Mexico, Canada, Haiti, Jamaica
Group B: Panama, United States, Guatemala, Cuba

The USA plays Guatemala first, then Cuba, and then the hosts, Panama, last.

Three teams go to the U-20 WWC from CONCACAF, so as long as the USA advances out of the group, they have two chance to qualify (by either winning a semifinal or by winning the 3rd place match).


U-20 Player Pool:

The player pool on USSoccer.com is not up to date, so here's the roster from a training camp that finished last week (Jan. 5-19):

Notes:
(1) Player links go to bio pages. If I did not find a college or club bio, I then went with their old bio on USSoccer.com or a news article.
(2) Players with bold names were members of the USA's 2010 U-20 WWC squad (which went out in the quarterfinals).
(3) Players with italicized names were members of either the USA's 2010 U-17 WWC CONCACAF Qualifiers squad (which did not qualify for that WWC), or the USA 2008 U-17 WWC Squad (overtime loss in the final to Korea DPR).
(4) Players with asterisks after their names were one of the 18 players on the roster for the 2011 Ten Nations Tournament in Spain. (This was the most recent event with a limited roster.)
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GOALKEEPERS (4):
Bryane Heaberlin (Clearwater Chargers; St. Petersburg, Fla.)
Jami Kranich (Villanova; Hamden, Conn.)
Abby Smith* (Dallas Texans ECNL U18; Dallas, Texas)
Abby Steele (Oregon; Santa Rosa, Calif.)

DEFENDERS (10):
Olivia Brannon (Virginia; Troy, Mich.)
Kori Chapic (Penn State; Russell, Ohio)
Abby Dahlkemper* (UCLA; Menlo Park, Calif.)
Crystal Dunn (North Carolina; Rockville Centre, N.Y.)
Jaelene Hinkle (Texas Tech; Denver, Colo.)
Julie Johnston* (Santa Clara; Mesa, Ariz.)
Kassey Kallman* (Florida State; Woodbury, Minn.)
Casey Morrison (Boston College; York, Pa.)
Mollie Pathman* (Duke; Durham, N.C.)
Cari Roccaro (Albertson Fury; East Islip, N.Y.)

MIDFIELDERS (7):
Morgan Brian* (Virginia; St. Simmons Island, Ga.)
Kaysie Clark (Missouri; Liberty, Mo.)
Vanessa DiBernardo (Illinois; Naperville, Ill.)
Kaitlyn Fitzpatrick (UC Berkeley; Pleasanton, Calif.)
Sarah Killion* (UCLA; Fort Wayne, Ind.)
Mandy Laddish* (Notre Dame; Lee’s Summit, Mo.)
Sam Mewis* (UCLA; Hanson, Mass.)

FORWARDS (9):
Micaela Capelle (Portland; Gresham, Ore.)
Maya Hayes (Penn State; West Orange, N.J.)
Lindsey Horan* (Colorado Rush; Golden, Colo.)
Sophia Huerta (Santa Clara; Boise, Idaho)
Stephanie McCaffrey (Boston College; Winchester, Mass.)
Kealia Ohai (North Carolina; Draper, Utah)
Kate Schwindel (West Virginia; Livingston, N.J.)
Katie Stengel* (Wake Forest; Melbourne, Fla.)
Chi Ubogagu (Stanford; Coppell, Texas)

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Player Notes:

Morgan Brian (2011) and Mollie Pathman (2010) are the two most recent Gatorade National Girls Soccer Players of the Year. (Other past winners of that award include Teresa Noyola, Melissa Henderson, Lauren Cheney, Amy Rodriguez, Heather O'Reilly, and Aly Wagner.)

NCAA Stats: Maya Hayes had a break-out sophomore year at Penn State last fall, scoring 31 goals (at a rate of 1.192 goal per match), to lead the nation in goals scored. She also had 9 assists. Stengel had 19 goals (6th place tie) and 8 assists. Meanwhile, DiBernardo had 17 goals (tie for 11th place) and 5 assists. The trio had 25 game-winning goals between them. Ubogagu had 10 goals and 10 assists (24th overall). Pathman had 11 assists (tied for 17th overall) and 6 goals.

Morgan Brian, Maya Hayes, Julie Johnston, and Katie Stengel were among the fifteen 2011 MAC Hermann Trophy Semifinalists.

Lindsey Horan led the U-17 team with 9 goals in the (disappointing) 2010 CONCACAF U17 WWC Qualifiers. Other players in the pool from that tournament are Smith, Heaberlin, Dahlkemper, Hinkle, Roccaro, Brian, and Clark.

Chi Ubogagu was born in England (presumably to at least one parent who is a UK National) and moved to the USA when she was 3. Her grandfather (no name given in the Stanford bio) played for Tottenham Hotspurs and the Nigerian National Team, so it looks like she has some national team options beyond the USA.

Huerta has a Mexican father, so she's another one that could do a Noyola.


A possible roster?

If I had to guess at an 21-player roster, I'd go with the following, which uses prior international experience (e.g., roster selections) as a primary factor. For the remaining slots, I'm using recent collegiate performance as the decider.

GK (3): Heaberlin, Smith, Steele
DEFENDERS (7): Brannon, Dahlkemper, Dunn, Johnston, Hinkle, Pathman, Roccaro
MIDFIELDERS (6): Brian, Clark, DiBernardo, Fitzpatrick, Laddish, S. Mewis
FORWARDS (5): Hayes, Huerta, Horan, Stengel, Ubogagu

In this list, italicized names denote the last one in (e.g., on the bubble) for their position classification:

GK: Steele seemed to have a better year than Kranich, though neither player's team had a winning record. Steele's Goals Allowed Per Game was 1.48 versus 1.78 for Kranich.

DF: If Swanson goes with experience, then I expect either Chapic (3 goals, 5 assists) or Kallman (3 goals, 3 assists) being selected over Roccaro. Morrison had 2 goals (apparently both PKs) and 2 assists.

MF: Fitzpatrick had 7 assists and 3 goals this year, compared to Killion's 2 assists.

F: Of the other forwards, Huerta leads in the goal-scoring with 8, plus 2 assists (18 points). I went with Huerta over Schwindel (6 goals, 7 assists, 19 points) based on the Santa Clara factor. Ohai (6 goals, 6 assists, 18 points) had a relatively disappointing sophomore year, compared to her 14 goal freshman campaign. Capelle (5 goals, 7 assists, 17 points). McCaffrey (4 goals, 5 assists, 14 points).

(All of the stats mentioned here are from the 2011 NCAA season.)
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This list does not take into account any particular formation or the player's normal playing position. Also, the coach (Swanson) is new to this team, so he may (hopefully) have different preferences than past coaches. Anyway, consider this a starting point for enlightened debate.


***

News about the Team:

Here's a TopDrawSoccer.com article about the training camp's two 60 minute scrimmages against Shanghai Women's FC. McCaffrey got the lone goal in the first scrimmage, which ended 1-0. Brian, Johnston, and Horan scored in the second scrimmage, which ended 3-0.

Also, back in August, USSoccer.com post a Q&A with the team's new head coach, Steve Swanson.

The team heads to Spain in February. I'm assuming it's for another La Manga Ten Nations Tournament (which is not a competitive tournament, the teams basically just play three friendlies and that's it).

 

Thanks for pointing out Cobb. I guess I had a bit of tunnel-vision when I typed up the first post. Hopefully Cobb's ankle will be 100% in time for her to be a viable option for the final U-20 WWC roster (assuming the USA qualifies).

Notable* players not at the January camp include:

• Lindsay Elston (MF, U. of Washington) and Arin Gilliland (DF, U. of Kentucky). This is the first camp in the 2011-2012 cycle that each has missed.
• Kelly Cobb (FW, UNC) [as mentioned earlier]. Cobb had been on every roster since February 2011.
• Emily Oliver (GK, Stanford). Not on the last two rosters.

*Based on previous roster frequency. These players have attended at least four U-20 camps this cycle and were on the 2011 Ten Nations Tournament roster.


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Here's a table of all the players who have been in camps for the U-20 WNT since the current cycle began (January 2011), along with which camps they were at (the G to A columns, see the key below for the dates and coach).

U-20 Player Pool 2011-2012 (Any Player Brought into a Camp):

Code:

Name                  P.   GFEDCBA  Year  Team
Allen, Torri          DF         A  1992  U. of Georgia
Bos, Lindsey          MF     E      ????  U. of Washington
Boysen, Haley         FW    F       1992  USC (Trojans)
Brannon, Olivia       DF   GF       1993  U. of Virginia
Brian, Morgan         MF   GFEDCBA  1993  U. of Virginia
Capelle, Micaela      FW   GF       1992  U. of Portland
Caroline, Stanley     GK        B   1993  U. of Missouri
Castain, Micaela      FW    F       1992  Washington State
Chapic, Kori          DF   GFED     1992  Penn State
Church, Shelby        GK    F D     1992  USC (Trojans)
Clark, Kaysie         MF   G ED B   1993  U. of Missouri
Clarke, Rikki         MF         A  1993  SMU
Cobb, Kelly           FW    FEDCB   1992  Duke U.
Cruz, Michelle        FW       CBA  1992  U. of Portland
Dahlkemper, Abby      DF   GFE CBA  1993  UCLA
Dees, Erin            GK    F       1992  U. of Portland
DiBernardo, Vanessa   MF   GFE      1992  U. of Illinois
Doll, Alex            MF       CBA  1993  Stanford U.
Dunn, Crystal         DF   GF    A  1992  UNC
Elston, Lindsay       MF    FEDCBA  1992  U. of Washington
Erskine, Megan        DF      D     1992  San Diego State U.
Fitzpatrick, Kaitlyn  MF   G        1992  UC-Berkeley (Cal)
Fuller, Megan         DF        B   1993  Ohio State U.
Gilliland, Arin       DF    FEDCBA  1992  U. of Kentucky
Groom, Shea           FW      D     1993  Texas A&M
Hayes, Maya           FW   GFE  BA  1992  Penn State
Heaberlin, Bryane     GK   G        1993  Clearwater Chargers [UNC]
Hinkle, Jaelene       DF   G    BA  1993  Texas Tech
Horan, Lindsay        FW   G   C    1994  Colorado Rush [UNC]
Hovington, Briana     DF        BA  1992  Penn State
Huerta, Sofia         FW   G        1992  Santa Clara
Jeffrey, Juliann      MF      D     1992  Yale U.
Johnston, Julie       DF   GF DCBA  1992  Santa Clara
Kallman, Kassey       DF   G EDCB   1992  Florida State
Killion, Sarah        MF   G EDCB   1992  UCLA
Kranich, Jami         GK   G        1992  Villanova
Laddish, Mandy        MF   G EDC A  1992  Notre Dame
Lawson, Emi           DF    F       1992  UC-Berkeley (Cal)
Lindstrom, Lauren     DF    F       1992  Fresno State
Lutzenkirchen, Abby   DF      D     1993  N. Atlanta SA [Alabama]
Martinez, Ariana      FW        BA  1992  UCLA
Martino, Tawni        FW        B   1992  Loyola Marymount
McCaffrey, Stephanie  FW   G ED     1993  Boston College
McCarthy, Kylie       FW      D     1993  UCLA
Mewis, Samantha       MF   GFEDCBA  1992  UCLA
Morrison, Casey       DF   G        1993  Boston College
Ohai, Kealia          FW   G E   A  1992  UNC
Oliver, Emily         GK     EDCBA  1992  Stanford U.
Oyster, Megan         DF     E      1992  UCLA
Pathman, Mollie       DF   GFEDCBA  1992  Duke U.
Payne, Sydney         FW    F       1993  Stanford U.
Ramirez, Taylor       MF    F       1993  UNC
Richardson, Dominque  DF     ED     1992  U. of Missouri
Roccaro, Cari         DF   G        1994  Albertson Fury [Notre Dame]
Schneider, Taylor     MF    F       1993  Notre Dame
Schwindel, Kate       FW   G        1993  West Virginia U.
Sessions, Catie       DF     ED     1992  U. of Wisconsin (Badgers)
Sieloff, Anna         GK         A  1992  UNC
Smith, Abby           GK   GFE CB   1993  Dallas Texans ECNL U18 [Texas]
Smith, Taylor         FW      DCBA  1993  Solar SC [UCLA]
Steele, Abby          GK   G  D     1993  U. of Oregon
Stengel, Katie        FW   G EDCBA  1992  Wake Forest
Truong, Quynh-Nhu     MF    F       1993  Rice U.
Ubogagu, Chioma       FW   G  D  A  1992  Stanford U.
Whigham, Carrie       DF         A  1992  U. of Oklahoma

Key:
G: January 2012 Camp (Swanson)
F: July 2011 Camp (Heinrichs)
E: June 2011 Camp (Heinrichs)
D: April 2011 Camp (Heinrichs)
C: 10 Nations Tournament, Spain, March 2011 (Heinrichs)
B: February 2011 Camp (Chesler)
A: January 2011 Camp (Chesler)

Year: This is the player's birth year. For the 2012 U-20 WWC, all players must be born "on or after 1 January 1992." Not all bios listed the players birthday. For some, I had to do an educated guess.

Positions are from US Soccer press releases.

Team: For players who have yet to play collegiate soccer (e.g. either still in high school or just finished high school by graduating early), their last club team is listed, followed by the university to which they have committed, according to TopDrawSoccer.

Edit:
Apparently I didn't search hard enough last time. TopDrawerSoccer.com's take on a possible roster, based on the recent camp. S. Mewis and Dahlkemper "on the bubble?" I'd like to see his full argument for this, if he's got one.

 

Via USSoccer.com: U.S. Under-20 Women Head to Spain For Three Matches

Match Schedule:
09 Feb - Switzerland
11 Feb - Germany
13 Feb - Norway

Roster:

This looks to be Stephanie Amack's first U-20 roster. She was at the U-18 camp this month, which was concurrent with the U-20 camp.

 

Re, the Swiss match: No article up at US Soccer's website, yet.

The Swiss FA has an article up about the match (in German), though there's no information about the US squad (roster, subs, goal-scorers, etc.) Apparently, the Swiss are missing a few players due to injuries and club commitments, though their coach admitted that having those players would not have made a difference. And, there is an insightful quote from their coach regarding the USA's squad:

A rough translation with the help of Google Translate (see note afterward):

"Today, we have received a lesson," U-20 coach Yannick Schwery put it very simply, following the sharp defeat. The Americans were in better physical condition compared to several of their past squads. "They were all one, two heads taller and yet played near-perfect football -- something I have rarely seen," said Schwery. "I cannot deny that my team had the will, but today, we did not have anything athletic to oppose (the USA)."

Note: The second sentence seems a bit tricky to translate. This is the raw Google Translate version: "The Americans were better physical conditions of their several classes." I think he's comparing this US squad to past US squads, but it might be a general comparison (E.g. "The Americans are in better physical condition than most of their peers.")

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The matches are at the La Manga Club in Murcia, Spain. This page has a photo of its football pitches. Quite a step up from staying in hostels.

The USA's next match is on Saturday against Germany.

Also, Japan has been officially confirmed by FIFA as the latest host for this year's U-20 WWC.

 

I think you're right. I went back and checked the Swiss website, which also has the article in French and Italian. Here's the Italian version of that sentence:

Which Google translated as "The American had an edge over the physical point of view." So, not really comparing this squad to past USA squads, but noting the differences between the Siss and USA sides.

 

And, not even a tweet on Twitter (twitter.com/ussoccer_ynt or twitter.com/ussoccer). Then again,US Soccer rarely posts any Women's YNT news on the YNT blog (last month there was one post about Leroux going first in the WPS draft, and last year, nothing -- 300+ posts, all about the Men's YNTeams). For whoever handles the PR for the Women's youth teams, it must be a really low priority.

Also, the German and Norwegian FA websites have posts up about their match in La Manga.

 

Here's a colorful Swiss write-up on the USA-Swiss match, with some photos.
(Thanks to Micol for finding this.)

And, more photos (from the same site).