Angie Woznuk

Hi i am a pilot fan.Angie is one of the best soccer players i have seen.She isn't on the USA olymic team roster;and i don't understand why?Is she injured?Anyone know?

She got a back injury just before the team was selected. She was apparently actually well enough by the time the CONCACAF tournament started. That probably made it harder on her.

Ali Wagner, who was just getting healthy a double hernia operation, took her place. Apparently there is only room for one gifted playmaker on the team at a time.

She'll get to fight for a job all over again after the Olympics.

Thank-you for you're reply.The last championship year was truly special. and provided soccer fans with some rare "sport moments."Angie Woznuk is a great player and i Iam glad she is fine.I'm looking forward to the new season.Also the formation of the new women's pro league.

Rbmaxit,

Welcome to the boards... I think that saying that I am looking forward to the season would be an extreme understatement

While it's a bummer that Wozzie didn't make it onto the Olympic team, when you put it into perspective, her rise in the US National Team system has been pretty meteoric over the past year.

Before her senior year, I don't think anyone really saw her as a candidate for the full national team. Yes she played for some of hte U-23 and U-21 teams and all of that, but the full squad? No offense to her at all, but I think that wasn't really what people had in mind. But after her brilliant season where she displayed such skill and panache with playmaking and with perhaps a new philosophy in the national team coaching staff, all of a sudden - bam! - Angie was playing significant minutes for the national team, which is such an awesome accomplishment.

Hopefully Angie will have more opportunities in the future... she's young enough where likely she will.

I always thought Angie would have a shot at the WNT if they shifted to a style that involved a control/short passing game as well as some long passes up front, vs the pretty much "always boom it forward" approach under Greg Ryan. Angie played plenty with the youth national teams, including winning the silver globe (second best player, after Marta -- which is why she has Marta's jersey from that event and Marta has hers) and bronze boot (third best scorer) at the 2004 U19 World Cup.

I recall that also, UPSF.

I remember, too, right after that tournament, reading an international article that included a poll, voted on by either coaches and/or accredited sportswriters, which ranked Angie among the top ten up-and-coming young soccer players in the -----> DRUM ROLL............. -----> WORLD!!!

To be quite honest, although I always loved Angie's game, I didn't think her collegiate redshirt sophomore or junior years lived up to that promise. Don't have a clue why. She could have been battling injury, personal/family issues, or maybe she just flourished more on a higher level at the world's stage. Maybe she performs best when she's playing against the Marta's of the world, who knows?

That is NOT to say Wozzie didn't perform well for the Pilots! Very well, in fact. She was certainly a key player on the 2005 National Championship Team as a redshirt sophomore. I just mean that after what she accomplished and all the accolades after the 2004 U19 WC, I guess I was looking for Marta's twin, and she just wasn't completely there yet. Even during her brilliant senior season, there was talk, I believe even on this forum, about her needing to step up and improve her "defensive" game.

Anyway - she's now well under way, I believe, in her pursuit of a future roster spot on the WNT, playing time, and hopefully eventually proving that she indeed is well on her way to becoming a top player in the world, as she showed all those voters who made her a part of that 10 player list of future up-and-comers, way back in 2004.

I'm pretty sure you've all seen this before



Michelle also got a Marta Jersey, I think.
Here's the two of them in the finals at the last Pan Am games.

I don't think Angie had injury or personal problems her sophomore and junior years. The team was asking her to play on the left side of the mid-field, paired with Stephanie bringing the ball up the field, rather than in the central mid, which is the position she was used to. There were very good reasons for the alignment, but Angie struggled with it. Her senior year, she played central mid, receiving the ball a whole lot and distributing it to the other attacking players. This was the position and role at which she was the most comfortable. I think she also was helped a lot by Keelin Winters, who was great at controlling the ball and dishing it to Angie virtually every time Angie was open. I attribute Winters doing that to her understanding the role of point guards in basketball, a result of her family heritage. I think the fact that Keelin almost always could spot Angie quickly and get the ball to her is an indicator of how really good Keelin is.

One of the main "very good reasons" was Megan Rapinoe, who we are fortunate to have back this year.

Two years ago Angie played the outside when Megan was back from WNT duty, and the middle when Megan was away and then when Megan got hurt. I think it was when she finally settled in that Agie started to shine in the 2006 season.

We had a similar problem in 2005, when Megan, Angie, and Linsey were all in the midfield. All three were natural center mids, so two of them played outside. One upside of that arrangement was a National Championship, of course, But I often thought all three wanted the middle.

Great point, UPSF. It's funny... I had forgotten that Angie played out wide.

Her senior season really was something special. It's so great when everything just comes together for a player and they are totally confident in their ability. I was very happy when she was named WCC Player of the Year... definitely well-deserved. But I was disappointed she wasn't First Team All-American... just goes to show that in those big nation-wide votes where people can't see everyone play, statistics becomes the measuring stick. Sometimes that's OK in baseball or basketball, but in soccer? How can a statistic display Angie's incredible playmaking?

Ah... but I digress.

Right on - Stoney!!! Angie, at times, looked like a wizardess last season. You had to see her to appreciate her.

Stats are meaningful in any sport - but only to a point. In soccer, one must watch the entirety of the play to fully appreciate the talents and intangibles of individual players.

Fortunately, the Pilots have built a fairly impressive national reputation. I am sure that there are players as good as ours that play on lesser teams that don't get the recognition that some of our players do. But that is the nature of sports: "to the winners go the spoils". We do, of course, still have the "East Coast bias" to deal with!!!