U23 Camp

Kelsey Davis and Jessica Tsao have been invited to the upcoming U23 National Team camp, to lead up to the Nordic Cup in 2009. Kelsey is a repeat. Way to go Jessica!

Here's the link: http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_12189697.html

Happy New Year!

I'll second the "way to go, Jessica".

When is the Nordic Cup? Do we lose her for part of the season? Which part?

Fret not FFA, the Nordic Cup takes place in July, they won't miss any time!!

fan from afar wrote:I'll second the "way to go, Jessica".

When is the Nordic Cup? Do we lose her for part of the season? Which part?

Relax. It's all good. The Nordic cup is in July Congrats to them both. Interesting that jessica is being bumped over a lot of good older players.

Kelsey has been in the mix for the national teams for a number of years. This is a huge bump for Jessica. I am encouraged that the coaches are looking outside usual suspects for talent. Cheers to the hometown girl and good luck for Kelsey.

Yes, the Nordie is in July so everyone should be available for the spring schedule and regular season. Only thing to watch is if there are any other camps between the end of January and summer. I am guessing there will be at least one more and, maybe a couple of scrimages.

Being a fan from afar and not able to see many games, I was nevertheless impressed by the improvement for Jessica from last to this season. I remember her playing outside D last season ('07) paired on the right with Ellie at outside M, and they were a pretty effective team against the weaker teams but just OK at best against better teams. This year, I really don't think I saw a better outside defender all fall, except maybe the girl (forgot her name) from UNC on the U20 national team - left outside defender. I don't remember Jessica being beaten all year, and she was a super threat overlapping up into the attacking third of the field, and - she'll improve again going into her Jr season, ESPECIALLY if she gets time with the U23 team.

Incidently - I think you will see that same type of huge improvement from Charney next fall. All the freshmen will improve a lot (they always do), and I'm not sure why, but I look for even more improvement from her than from the other freshmen.

Great news indeed for Jessica! Congratulations to her!

Although there are 25 in camp, there are only 6 listed as defenders, so maybe she'll have a good chance of making the squad.

SN, You bring up a good point about the defenders. Are these six defenders on the bubble to make the team? Conspicuously absent are Carrie-Dew Notre Dame and Marissa Abegg-Stanford (Lake Oswego). Its hard to imagine they are not in the hunt for making the team in July. Other former defense team member include Erin Hardy-UCLA, Nikki Krysik-Virginia. I think at least one of these names will make the team.

FFA, agree about the improvement in Freshmen after the first year. The difference in maturity and being immersed in the program is definately bigger than say from Soph to Junior or Junion to Senior. With Charney, I thought she was a little unlucky this year with shots going wide or over the cross bar. I expect to see more goals from her next year.

Auto Pilot wrote:SN, You bring up a good point about the defenders. Are these six defenders on the bubble to make the team? Conspicuously absent are Carrie-Dew Notre Dame and Marissa Abegg-Stanford (Lake Oswego). Its hard to imagine they are not in the hunt for making the team in July.

Abegg is named as a defender. I also imagine some of the others you mentioned will get a shot in future camps if some of the ones named tho time don't perform.

Nice to see Moore was also named.

I hope Kelsey gets to play in the event this time. Seems like she is always the backup. If Jess makes the team and starts it would be a good combo as they play well together. But I guess the coach (Bill) is duty bound to play who he thinks is best.

Bravo Jessica! Well deserved. She's a solid defender. I'm sure she and Kelsey will make the most of their opportunity and imprint their undeniable skills on the coaches minds. Go get em Pilots!

I would imagine many of the players will be drafted and in season during the Nordic Cup in July. The talented defenders you mentioned as missing would probably be unavailable for Nordic Cup training camp and games.

WPSinMind wrote:I would imagine many of the players will be drafted and in season during the Nordic Cup in July. The talented defenders you mentioned as missing would probably be unavailable for Nordic Cup training camp and games.

Hmm, that is food for thought. There are a number of players on the camp list that either have been drafted into the WPS league or are are finished with their college and are available for draft. If they won't be available for the event why would Bill have called them into camp. Agreements have been made with the Pros and U-23s most likely.

how many of us have forgotten jess was the player of the year in her classification her sophamore an junior years in high school. an the only reason she didn't win it her senior season was because she tore her acl that year about a week after megan r. torn hers. jess has been an offensive player her whole life! when she came to the pilots, she had to learn to play defense. how many times did clive take an offensive talent an turn them in to a defender?

I'd be quaking in my ski boots if I was Nordic Cup team going agains the US defense of Abegg, Logterman, Moore and Tsao, to name the backline players I've seen. Tsao is the biggest two-way threat of them all, IMHO, if the coach unleashes her to make runs on the attack. She's the pride of the Oregon Episcopal Aardvarks. Bravo!

I was fortunate to attend a couple of scrimages at the end of camp. Jess looked right at home and was playing the overlaping style that has become her trademark style. She looked totally at ease and poised. She will make this team. Kelsey looked good also. She seems to have shaken the foot injury that affected her kicking game last season. After the great competition that was the college season it was kind of strange watching O'Hara, Heath, Noguiera, Moore, Logterman and Tsao all playing on the same side.

They gave a beating to a W-league team from San Diego. The Sonatas I think someone said. Aptly name cuz it was lights out. Back to reality, they lost to a Nomads u-14 boys team 2-0.

i was there too, auto pilot. the first game was a combination of the san diego sea lions from the wpsl, and a few other players. it was tied 1-1 for a bit, then the US team dropped 5 on them to finish 6-1. that team hadn't played in a while and i was joking with some friends: could you imagine getting that call to play? "oh hey, what's up? happy new year. you want to play in a game this weekend?" "yeah, sure. sounds fun. who we playing?" "oh, the u23 national team." "Um, yeah, i think i'm getting my wisdom teeth out that day, or i'll probably have appendicitis or something."

The nomads game, they were drawn 0-0 at half. the 23s played very strong, but i thought they got nothing from their forwards in the first half. they defended their butts off in the midfield and backline--very organized and composed. i left the game at halftime...my friend and i thought it was the u15s nomads, auto pilot, but i'll take you're word for it since you're familiar with the teams in the area and i'm not...

Hey KFTC did you also notice who was there on the sidelines. Bob Bradley US Men's National Coach and some other unidentified coaches/scouts and Jillian Ellis who sat on the side with the team and players. I only talked to one fan about who the women's team was on Saturday and he gave me some erroneous information about it being a W team named Sonata trying to be an expansion team to the WPS. Wishful thinking I suppose. Based on your description I believe you are correct in stating it was a hodgepodge of players as I recognized one of the defenders as a Leanne from the Surf club a few years ago. Talking to a few players from the WNT after Saturdays game they said the other side was really gassed in the second half which would account for the five goals.

The Nomads could easily have been fifteens as I got a different story from each person I talked to one said U-14 and the other said U-15 could have been a combination of bothdepending on who felt like playing that day. They clubs are still on winter break. One thing was clear they were Nomads and they were boys/men and a little bit embarassed about playing against a women's team. One of the boys said they wanted to make sure they won for pride without hurting any of the ladies which they accomplished on both accounts. Though the won the game their stlye was not all that great mostly just powered the ball up the middle and tried to get goals off counters and break aways where there speed advantage would show up the most.

Kelsey started on Sunday and had a couple nice saves with no goals against. Val played the second part of the first half and got caught out of the goal on a breakaway. She looked a bit rusty. The third keeper who got most of the playing time was athletic but I don't expect her to make the team. She had bobbly hands and was not a good decision maker. I actually saw her box a ball straight out into the field ten yards out during warmup. That showed a certain naievity.

The player i was most impressed with was the forward from Purdue they called P. She looked awesome against the girls team on Saturday but looked really sore maybe even injured on Sunday.

Watching Tobin Heath and Casey N play I can see why their team was National Champs last year. Both one touch it with superior quickness and in with an eye to making a connection or to play to a player in space to run on. Tobin is so fast on the give an go I can see why she is so hard to defend. Casey not quite as fast maybe but she does not give away a pass with her eyes like so many players do. Reminds me of the no look passes in basketball. She tried a couple shots almost exactly like the ones she scored on in the Notre Dame game but the tall boys keeper handled them easily.

Anyway Tobin is getting called to a full national camp again this month from January 20 to February 5 at the Home Depot Center. I wonder how these kids stay in school. So you might be seeing her in March at the Algarve Cup and back overseas again in July for the Nordic cup.

Yes, I saw the coaches and staffs from LA and Chicago were there sitting on the opposite touchline from the teams. I did not see Ellis sitting with the players--I can't believe I missed that one, then again I was sitting above the field watching from the bleachers that are on the field up above. Same with Bradley...though, I'm not completely sure he was there, as I read on US Soccer that the men's national team was training in LA yesterday morning at the Home Depot Center, and the men's national coaching staff was supposed to be sticking around the HDC to watch the two Interliga finals games in the afternoon and evening.

Tobin Heath was ridiculous yesterday. I could see the boys hesitant on a few tackles until she crushed one of them at about midfield. Then they got a little less shy and started going at the women a bit. Heath should be getting in with the full team, she is just that dang good.