23 NWSL players called into October USWNT camp | 23 NWSL players called into October USWNT camp | National Women's Soccer League Official Site

08 October 2020By: NWSL Media Staff

23 NWSL players called into October USWNT camp

The camp will take place from Oct. 18-28

U.S. women’s national team head coach Vlatko Andonovski has named a 27-player roster for an 11-day training camp, the USA’s first event in seven months. The camp will run from Oct. 18-28 in Commerce City, Colorado.The U.S. roster features all domestic-based players, 23 who play in the NWSL and four current collegiate players. “We’re looking forward to getting this group together in Colorado and we really like the mix of players as far as age, experience level and positions,” Andonovski said. “We are very aware that the players also have had different levels of activity over the past few months, so we’ll definitely take that into account as we run this camp. As we finally get back on the field, I know our players and staff are really looking forward to training together again.”

USWNT OCTOBER TRAINING CAMP ROSTER (CLUB; CAPS/GOALS)

GOALKEEPERS (4): ****Aubrey Bledsoe (Washington Spirit; 0), Jane Campbell (Houston Dash; 3), Ashlyn Harris (Orlando Pride; 25), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars; 63)

DEFENDERS (10): ****Abby Dahlkemper (NC Courage; 61/0), Tierna Davidson (Chicago Red Stars; 26/1), Crystal Dunn (NC Courage; 104/24), Naomi Girma (Stanford; 0/0), Sarah Gorden (Chicago Red Stars; 0/0) Ali Krieger (Orlando Pride; 107/1), Kelley O’Hara (Utah Royals FC; 131/2), Margaret Purce (Sky Blue FC; 1/0), Becky Sauerbrunn (Portland Thorns FC; 177/0), Casey Short (Chicago Red Stars; 32/0)

MIDFIELDERS (7): ****Shea Groom (Houston Dash; 0/0), Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns FC; 86/19), Morgan Gautrat (Chicago Red Stars; 87/8), Jaelin Howell (Florida State; 0/0), Catarina Macario (Stanford; 0/0), Kristie Mewis (Houston Dash; 15/1), Ashley Sanchez (Washington Spirit; 0/0)

FORWARDS (6): ****Bethany Balcer (OL Reign; 0/0), Mia Fishel (UCLA; 0/0), Ashley Hatch (Washington Spirit; 2/0), Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns FC; 0/0), Kealia Watt (Chicago Red Stars; 3/1), Lynn Williams (NC Courage; 28/9)

The roster consists of nine players who saw action during the highly successful runs in Olympic Qualifying and/or at the SheBelieves Cup before the sporting world was shut down last spring. It also includes quite a few players who have some national team experience and/or extensive time with the U.S. youth national teams. Many of players called up performed well during the NWSL Challenge Cup and the NWSL Fall Series. “We want to reward players who have done well for their clubs and give them a chance to step up and perform in our environment,” Andonovski said. “We have a lot of uncapped players and a few who have had the chance to earn a few caps, but we know that deepening our player pool is important as we head into 2021.” With the USA not having an official match during this FIFA competition window, FIFA has exempted European clubs from having to release their players. “For this camp, it just did not make sense for the players in Europe to leave their club environments, where they are getting quality training games, as they are just starting to get settled,” Andonovski said. “But this opens up the important opportunity for other players to step up and show if they can contribute to the national team during our run to the Olympics.” Several 2019 Women’s World Cup veterans were not available as they are recovering from injuries in forwards Carli Lloyd and Mallory Pugh and goalkeeper Adrianna Franch. Midfielder Julie Ertz will not attend camp due to a family commitment and forward Megan Rapinoe opted out to due injury concerns When not at training, for the entirety of the camp the U.S. team and staff will operate inside a controlled environment at a Denver-area hotel. Everyone entering the controlled environment will undergo multiple COVID-19 tests before traveling and then will be tested upon arrival and every two days during camp. There will be no full team training until the results of all arrival tests are confirmed. The training camp will be conducted under strict protocols — available here — which were established by the U.S. Soccer Medical team, with contributions from the Sports Science, Communications, Administrative and Events staffs, and led by U.S. Soccer Chief Medical Officer Dr. George Chiampas, who was also part of the NWSL Medical Task Force that established the protocols for the NWSL Challenge Cup and NWSL Fall Series.