U17 WNT heads to Florida for training camp

by U.S. Soccer

March 15, 2018

The U.S. Under-17 Women’s National Team will gather from March 16-26 for a training camp in Lakewood Ranch, Fla. It will be the USA’s final camp before U.S. U-17 head coach Mark Carr chooses his 20-player roster for the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Under-17 Championship being held in Nicaragua from April 19-29. The Americans were seeded into Group B where they will face Costa Rica, Bermuda and Canada in the tournament that will qualify three teams to the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.

Carr called up 24 players for this camp, including 10 who have scored in international matches for the USA this year, led by Hawaiian, Sunshine Fontes (eight goals in 2018 and 10 for her U-17 career), Isabella D’Aquila (four and eight) and Croix Bethune (three and seven). The USA will be without forward Jordan Canniff, the third most capped player in the pool, who played in the 2016 U-17 Women’s World Cup, as she recently suffered a serious knee injury.

The camp will also feature three closed-door matches against the Japan U-17 WNT. Japan is one of eight countries, along with host Uruguay, to have qualified for the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup with three more to come from CONCACAF, three from Europe and two from South America.

Thirteen players on the roster are in double-figures in caps in their U-17 careers, led by defenders Kate Wiesner (27) and Kennedy Wesley (26), who were both a part of the previous cycle and played at the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Jordan.

Carr’s roster consists of 20 players born in 2001 – the age cut off year for the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup – and four born in 2002 in defenders Talia DellaPeruta, Smith Hunter and Makenna Morris, and forward Samantha Kroeger.

Over the course of this cycle, the U-17 WNT has gone 14-1-3 in international matches and is coming off a victory in mid-February at the Copa Provincia de Buenos Aires tournament in which the USA defeated Argentina, Uruguay and Chile.

U.S. U-17 Women’s National Team Roster by Position:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Angelina Anderson (Mustang FC; Danville, Calif.), Julia Dohle (New York City FC; Scarsdale, N.Y.), Lindsey Romig (IMG Academy; Midlothian, Va.)

DEFENDERS (8): Michela Agresti (FC Stars of Mass., Swampscott, Mass.), Talia DellaPeruta (NTH Tophat; Cumming, Ga.), Tori Hansen (NC Courage Academy; Raleigh, N.C.), Smith Hunter (Seattle Reign Academy; Seattle, Wash.), Makenna Morris (Bethesda SC; Germantown, Md.), Natalia Staude (NTH Tophat; Atlanta, Ga.), Kennedy Wesley (So Cal Blues; Rossmoor, Calif.), Katie Wiesner (Slammers FC; Monrovia, Calif.)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Hannah Bebar (Eclipse Select SC; Naperville, Ill.), Croix Bethune (Concord Fire; Alpharetta, Ga.), Maya Doms (Davis Legacy; Davis, Calif.), Mia Fishel (San Diego Surf; San Diego, Calif.), Sophie Jones (San Jose Earthquakes; Menlo Park, Calif.), Astrid Wheeler (Concorde Fire; Atlanta, Ga.)

FORWARDS (7): Isabella D'Aquila (So Cal Blues; Rossmoor, Calif.), Sunshine Fontes (Hawaii Rush; Wahiawa, Hawaii), Samantha Kroeger (World Class FC; West Milford, N.J.), Payton Linnehan (FC Stars; Douglas, Mass.), Samantha Meza (Solar SC; Dallas, Texas), Diana Ordonez (FC Dallas; Prosper, Texas), Kalyssa Van Zanten (Eclipse Select; Buffalo Grove; Ill.)