U.S. U23 WNT gets the same Thursday results

CARSON, CALIF – In a cold, rainy, and muddy Saturday morning, the United States U23 Women’s National Team wrapped up its December training camp facing women’s team Ajax and boys team Fullerton Rangers for the 2nd time this week.

Bill Irwin’s U.S. side came out victorious over Ajax, 4-0, and drew against the boys from Fullerton, 2-2.

It ends a week where a combination of both professional and college soccer players were able to gel together very and deliver performances that impressed the coaching staff.

“I was really happy with the camp and the soccer played,” Irwin said. “The level and speed of play was absolutely tremendous. We learned a lot about the players and the staff was excited to get this group back together.”

Among the attendees, there were a handful of players that impressed Coach Irwin. Coming off a heavy college season and going into training camp while staying at the top of your game isn’t an easy thing for an athlete. However Portland’s Keelin Winters, Stanford’s Christen Press, and Virginia’s Sinead Farrelly, were some of the players Irwin made good remarks on.

“I thought Keelin, Sinead, and Christen played well," he said. “Christen had great speed and caused a lot of problems. Keelin was great as an outside right back. She did a good job getting forward at the right times. Defensively she did well.”

While the two ends of the field were taken care of, Sinead did a good job commanding the middle. She had great presence on the ball and vision of the field in front of her. Most importantly she had fantastic composure under pressure and did a nice job dribbling the ball out of trouble.

From this performance the coaching staff will analyze the player’s entire body of work and the compare that to the team’s next training camp in January, where more members from the full squad will be likely to attend.

“There will be a lot of changes because I am sure Pia Sundhage (women’s national team coach) will bring some of her players,” Irwin said. “You also have to consider that some are going to be too old.”

Both this camp and the upcoming January camp will be preparation for an international competition in Spain this February. The U.S. will be facing Norway, Sweden, and England in a three-game round-robin tournament.

U23 WNT Training Camp Roster (by position) – courtesy US Soccer

GOALKEEPERS (3): Kristin Arnold (Texas A&M(w); Centennial, Colo.), Alexa Gaul (Texas; Naperville, Ill.), Alyssa Naeher (Boston Breakers; Seymour, Conn.)

DEFENDERS (6): Amber Brooks (North Carolina; New Hope, Pa.), Whitney Engen (Chicago Red Stars; Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.), Lauren Fowlkes (Notre Dame; Lee’s Summit, Mo.), Nikki Krzysik (Chicago Red Stars; Clifton, N.J.), Kat Reynolds (Unattached; Medina, Wash.), Brittany Taylor (Sky Blue FC; Campbell Hall, N.Y.)

MIDFIELDERS (11):  Bianca D’Agostino (Wake Forest; Longmeadow, Mass.), Amanda DaCosta (Florida State; Katona, N.Y.), Becky Edwards (Unattached; Downington, Pa.), Sinead Farrelly (Virginia; Havertown, Pa.), Tori Huster (Florida State; Cincinnati, Ohio), Meghan Klingenberg (North Carolina; Gibsonia, Pa.), Allie Long (Sky Blue FC; Northport N.Y.), Casey Nogueira (Chicago Red Stars; Raleigh, N.C.), Elli Reed (Portland; Park City, Utah), Keelin Winters (Portland; Englewood, Colo.) Kylie Wright (UCLA; Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.)

FORWARDS (4): Melissa Henderson (Notre Dame; Garland, Texas), Kelley O’Hara (Unattached; Fayetteville, Ga.) Christen Press (Stanford; P.V. Estates, Calif.), Katie Schoepfer (Unattached; Waterford, Conn.)