Pilots on U23 team

Our Pilots keeping active on U23 team:

U-23 National Team

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

U.S. U-23 WOMEN HEAD TO CLEVELAND FOR TRAINING CAMP: The U.S. Under-23 Women’s National Team, under the guidance of head coach Bill Irwin, will travel to Cleveland, Ohio, for a training camp from June 12-19 at the Premier Soccer Academies, a facility developed and opened by legendary U.S. goalkeeper and current Aston Villa starter Brad Friedel. Irwin will bring 24 players to camp, during which the U.S. team will play two matches against the Cleveland Internationals of the USL W-League. Irwin’s squad is made up entirely of collegiate-aged players, with numerous players eligible for the U-23s currently competing in Women’s Professional Soccer. The roster includes 2008 Olympic gold medalist Tobin Heath, who will be entering her senior season at UNC this fall, as well as five players (including Heath) who have represented the USA in a FIFA youth Women’s World Cup. That group includes forward Alex Morgan, who helped the U.S. U-20s to the world title last year in Chile while scoring four goals and earning the Silver Ball as the second best player in the tournament and the Bronze Shoe as the third leading scorer. The roster also includes midfielder Casey Nogueira and goalkeeper Kelsey Davis, who both trained with the full U.S. team in Canada during its run up to the USA’s 4-0 victory over the Canadians on Memorial Day in Toronto. Irwin will be focusing on this training camp to select an 18-player roster that will travel to England in July for two matches against England.

U.S. U-23 WNT Training Camp Roster
GOALKEEPERS (3): Kristin Arnold (Texas A&M; Centennial, Colo.), Kelsey Davis (Portland; Thousand Oaks, Calif.), Mo Isom (Louisiana State; Marietta, Calif.)
DEFENDERS (7): Lauren Barnes (UCLA; Upland, Calif.), Caitlin Farrell (Wake Forest; Fort Meyers, Fla.), Lindsey Kowal (Harvard; East Meadow, N.Y.), Carly Peetz (Nebraska; Lincoln, Neb.), Kat Reynolds (Santa Clara; Medina, Wash.), Jessica Schuveiller (Notre Dame; Plano, Texas), Brianne Young (Texas A & M; Castle Pines North, Colo.)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Kendra Chandhoke (Portland; Morrison, Colo.), Amanda DaCosta (Florida State; Katonah, N.Y.), Sinead Farrelly (Virginia; Havertown, Pa.), Ali Hawkins (North Carolina; Encinitas, Calif.), Tobin Heath (North Carolina; Basking Ridge, N.J.), Elli Reed (Portland; Park City, Utah), Kylie Wright (UCLA; R. Santa Margarita, Calif.)
FORWARDS (7): Kiki Bosio (Santa Clara; Mission Viejo, Calif.), Laura Heyboer (Michigan State; Hudonsville, Mich.), Alex Morgan (California; Diamond Bar, Calif.), Casey Nogueira (North Carolina; Raleigh, N.C.), Kelley O’Hara (Stanford; Fayetteville, Ga.), Christen Press (Stanford; PV Estates, Calif.), Katie Schoepfer (Penn State; Waterford, Conn.)

It looks like Bill is cycling through quite a few players, similarly to what Pia has been doing with the senior WNT. I like them casting a wide net for national team purposes.

Does anyone think there's any significance to Bill designating Elli as a midfielder? Could we see a lineup something like:

Davis

Tsao -- Colohan -- Olivier -- Sweeney

Winters

Chandhoke ---------------- Reed

Enyeart

Schmidt ------------ Foxhoven

This would leave Burke (switch with Chandhoke?), McCluskie (switch with Sweeney?), Kriminski, Jackman, Kelly, etc. coming off the bench as well as the other incoming frosh. Great "wear you down" depth. Does anyone think Chandhoke could play attacking mid? She's a great passer, although Enyeart on the right wing may not be her best position.

I'm a little surprised to see Kendra on this team.

I know that the norm of this board is to avoid negative comments about our players, and I agree with this so I hope I'm not stepping over the line here. But I'm starting to get impatient hoping for Kendra to perform at the level she was hyped at as a Top 10 Soccer Buzz national recruit.

She has lots of strengths: good touch, a good shot, and excellent flat-out speed. But I don't think she has adapted fully to the speed and physicality of the college game, which makes it surprising to me that she would be selected for national-team duty. She seems to give up the ball pretty easily sometimes (and doesn't challenge very aggressively to recover it) and her passes in traffic often don't find the target.

One has to wonder if Bill is doing this partially for her (and the Pilots') benefit rather than for the benefit of the U23 team, but I guess every coach has his favorites and this is one of the perquisites of accepting that job. I hope that she comes back with a little more "Keelin" in her game!

I'd guess we have different opinions on Kendra, SK. This spring Kendra was finally healthy after what has to have been a very frustrating 2 year period for her filled with injuries. I thought she looked very good out there. I've never had a question about the physicality of her play, she's always seemed willing and able to mix it up on the field when she's been able to play.

A-Fan, I agree with you, she was fantastic before the injuries. another Summer of development, I'm hoping she can add another nice scoring punch this fall.

UPSF,

That lineup does seem logical to me, I would maybe like to see Charney at the point and Michelle out wide, but there is something to be said for Michelle in the middle of the field to make plays as well.

The last two years we have done this, we have underestimated the contribution that the new players would make. Look back at last year and see how many of you had Kassi on your lineups? I think you'll see at least one other freshman on the starting roster.

I also think we have more depth that ever. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Garrett took advantage of that to make sure we have the strongest team possible come playoff time.

It's all about the tournament.

I still think we will see Elli Reed playing defense. If another freshman plays it might be Kendall Johnson in midfield.

SoreKnees wrote:I'm a little surprised to see Kendra on this team.

I know that the norm of this board is to avoid negative comments about our players, and I agree with this so I hope I'm not stepping over the line here. But I'm starting to get impatient hoping for Kendra to perform at the level she was hyped at as a Top 10 Soccer Buzz national recruit.

She has lots of strengths: good touch, a good shot, and excellent flat-out speed. But I don't think she has adapted fully to the speed and physicality of the college game, which makes it surprising to me that she would be selected for national-team duty. She seems to give up the ball pretty easily sometimes (and doesn't challenge very aggressively to recover it) and her passes in traffic often don't find the target.

One has to wonder if Bill is doing this partially for her (and the Pilots') benefit rather than for the benefit of the U23 team, but I guess every coach has his favorites and this is one of the perquisites of accepting that job. I hope that she comes back with a little more "Keelin" in her game!

I also disagree with this opinion. I actually think she's one of the underrated players on our team. I think that she helps to get the little things done and the intangibles that win games. I really am not a fan of calling out players in posts. Student athletes are always students first.

I think that, for a fan on the sidelines, it's very hard to know what the impact of injury has been. Pilots have had several players out for long periods in the last couple of seasons. In some cases they may have been playing with an injury for a while before sitting out and so not been at full strength. Some times they never come back - Rebecca Meierbachtol.

Kendra is one of them. I know that she was missed last year at the end of the season. Up could really have used her in midfield in the playoffs.

She came to UP having played as a forward in HS and in her freshman year she scored 10 goals and had 7 assists. It seems that her best position might be outside midfield. That is partly because there have been other players ahead of her at forward but also because she has good speed. In my opinion, one of the things she has going for her is that she IS aggressive and looks to tackle back and chase players down.

I hope that she is now 100% healthy and has a chance to play a whole season at full speed.

My impression was that Kendra was one of the bright spots in the game against the WNT. I think she'll play very well this season.

The following is from the US Soccer website, referring to a game on June 16:

U.S. U-23 WNT DOWNS FC INDIANA DURING CAMP IN OHIO: The U.S. Under-23 Women’s National Team finished up a training camp in Cleveland, Ohio, last Friday in which they played one match against a women’s team, defeating FC Indiana 2-1. The camp was held at Premier Soccer Academies, a facility developed and opened by legendary U.S. goalkeeper and current Aston Villa starter Brad Friedel. Against FC Indiana on June 16, the USA got both goals from forward Katie Schoepfer of Penn State, who has eight scores for the U-23s this year, by far the most of the team. Schoepfer tallied in the 22nd minute and then again in the 41st off an assist from 2008 U.S. Olympic gold medalist Tobin Heath. FC Indiana, one of the USL W-League’s top sides, pulled a goal back in the 68th minute. U.S. starting goalkeeper Kelsey Davis was injured in the 56th minute of the game, breaking her jaw in a nasty collision and will be out at least six weeks. Kristin Arnold replaced her and gave up one goal, but the USA kept FC Indiana scoreless for the rest of the match. U.S. head coach Bill Irwin is in the process of selecting 18 players to travel to England from July 1-10 for two matches against the England U-23s.

U.S. U-23 WNT Training Camp Results
Date Opponent Result U.S. Goal Scorer(s)
June 16 FC Indiana 2-1 W Schoepfer (2)

Bummer for Kelsey.

There's the old saw that says what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Here's to Kelsey bouncing back stronger than ever and helping to lead us to another great season.

Get Well soon!

Purplegeezer wrote:There's the old saw that says what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Here's to Kelsey bouncing back stronger than ever and helping to lead us to another great season.

Get Well soon!

Safe to say all of us "armchair fans" on the site agree - get well Kelsey.

Hope she recovers quickly enough to shout that great verbal direction she gives to her team mates.