CHICAGO (Nov. 13, 2009) – U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Pia Sundhage has called in 24 players, including 18 WPS players, for an 11-day training camp at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., running from Dec. 5-15. This will be the last action of the year for the U.S. women, who have compiled a record of 7-0-1 in full international matches in 2009.
 
In addition to the eighteen players on the roster come from WPS clubs, Sundhage has also called in six of the nation’s top college players who are finishing up their seasons this fall.
 
Sixteen of the 18 players that were a part of the USA’s roster for the 1-0 victory over Germany in late October were named to this camp, including the Washington Freedom’s Abby Wambach, who scored the winning goal in that match in front of 30,000 fans in Augsburg, Germany. Wambach comes into camp as the most-capped player on the roster with 131 games played for the USA. Defender Cat Whitehill (Washington Freedom) is right behind her at 130. The other players with more than 100 caps on the roster are midfielders the Los Angeles Sol’s Shannon Boxx (118) and Sky Blue FC’s Heather O’Reilly (116) and Philadelphia Independence defender Heather Mitts (104). Saint Louis Athletica defender Lori Chalupny looks to be the next U.S. player to hit 100 as she currently sits on 92 career caps.
 
Chicago Red Stars midfielder Megan Rapinoe returns to the roster after missing the Germany trip due to minor arthoscopic surgery on her left knee. Boston Breakers midfielder Leslie Osborne also returns to the roster after departing early during the last training camp when an injured calf did not respond well enough to treatment to allow her to compete.
 
Sundhage called up the USA’s two most experienced collegians in UCLA forward Lauren Cheney (19 caps) and North Carolina midfielder Tobin Heath (19). Both were members of the USA’s gold medal-winning 2008 Olympic Team and will likely be drafted in the first round of January’s 2010 WPS Draft.
 
Also getting the nod are midfielder Christine Nairn (Penn State), who was just named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher (Penn State) who was just named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, forward Casey Nogueira (UNC), who was the MVP of the ACC Tournament, and forward Kelley O’Hara (Stanford), who scored 23 goals in 20 regular season matches. O’Hara was named the Pac-10 Player of the Year. Nairn and Naeher were members of the USA’s 2008 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Team that took home the title in Chile while Nogueira and O’Hara played for the USA at the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Russia.
 
Naeher, Nogueira and O’Hara are all college seniors who are expected to be among the names called at the 2010 WPS Draft.  Nogueira has one senior cap while O’Hara, who has been in one previous full National Team training camp, and Naeher, who gets her first call-up to the senior side, are uncapped.  Nairn scored her first-ever goal for the full national team in the USA’s 1-0 victory over Canada on July 22, 2009, in Charleston, S.C. in what was just her second career cap.
 
The five-foot-nine Naeher, who allowed just one goal during her five starts with the U-20s in Chile, will train alongside veteran goalkeepers Hope Solo (Saint Louis Athletica) and Nicole Barnhart (FC Gold Pride).
 
If one or more of the college players on the roster makes it to the NCAA Women’s College Cup being held at Texas A&M on Dec. 4 and 6, they will arrive a few days late into training camp. Sundhage will also be attending the semifinal matches of the College Cup in College Station, Tex. on Dec. 4.

UNITED STATES WOMEN’S NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM TRAINING CAMP ROSTER
Dec. 5-15, 2009 – The Home Depot Center
 
Players                    Pos. Ht.    DOB          Hometown                 College       WPS Club             Caps/Goals
Averbuch, Yael         M      5-10  11/03/86    Upper Montclair, N.J.   UNC             Sky Blue FC                3/0
Barnhart, Nicole       GK    5-10  10/10/81    Gilbertsville, Pa.          Stanford       FC Gold Pride             20
Bock, Brittany           D      5-7    04/11/87    Naperville, Ill.               Notre Dame            Los Angeles Sol      0/0
Boxx, Shannon         M      5-8    06/29/77    Redondo Beach, Calif.    Notre Dame Los Angeles Sol          118/20
Buehler, Rachel       D      5-5    08/26/85    Del Mar, Calif.             Stanford       FC Gold Pride             31/0
Chalupny, Lori          D      5-4    01/29/84    St. Louis, Mo.              UNC             St. Louis Athletica       92/8
Cheney, Lauren       F       5-8    09/30/87    Indianapolis, Ind.         UCLA            --                                  19/4
Heath, Tobin             M      5-6    05/29/88    Basking Ridge, N.J.    UNC             --                                  19/2
LePeilbet, Amy         D      5-6    03/12/82    Crystal Lake, Ill.           Arizona State Boston Breakers         27/0
Lloyd, Carli               M      5-8    07/16/82    Delran, N.J.                 Rutgers        Sky Blue FC                85/19
Masar, Ella               F       5-7    04/03/86    Urbana, Illinois             Illinois           Chicago Red Stars     1/0
Mitts, Heather           D      5-5    06/09/78    Cincinnati, Ohio          Florida          Philly Independence    104/2
Nairn, Christine        M      5-5    09/25/90    Bowie, Md.                  Penn State   --                                  2/1
Naeher, Alyssa         GK    5-9    04/20/88    Seymour, Conn.          Penn State   --                                  0
Nogueira, Casey      F       5-6    02/23/89    Raleigh, N.C.               UNC             --                                  1/0
O’Hara, Kelley          F       5-5    08/04/88    Fayetteville, Ga.          Stanford       --                                  0/0
O’Reilly, Heather      M      5-5    01/02/85    East Brunswick, N.J.  UNC             Sky Blue FC                116/25
Osborne, Leslie       M      5-8    05/27/83    Brookfield, Wis.           Santa Clara  Boston Breakers               61/3
Rapinoe, Megan       M      5-7    07/05/85    Redding, Calif.            Portland        Chicago Red Stars     11/4
Rodriguez, Amy       F       5-4    02/17/87    Lake Forest, Calif.       USC             Philly Independence    38/6
Schnur, Meghan       D      5-6    04/16/86    Butler, Pa.                   UConn          Sky Blue FC                0/0
Solo, Hope               GK    5-9    07/30/81    Richland, Wash.         Washington  St. Louis Athletica       85
Wambach, Abby      F       5-11  06/02/80    Rochester, N.Y.          Florida          Washington Freedom 131/101
Whitehill, Cat            D      5-7    02/10/82    Birmingham, Ala.        UNC             Washington Freedom 130/11
 
GOALKEEPERS (3): Nicole Barnhart (FC Gold Pride), Alyssa Naeher (Penn State), Hope Solo (St. Louis Athletica)
DEFENDERS (7): Brittany Bock (Los Angeles Sol), Rachel Buehler (FC Gold Pride), Lori Chalupny (St. Louis Athletica), Amy LePeilbet (Boston Breakers), Heather Mitts (Philadelphia Independence), Meghan Schnur (Sky Blue FC), Cat Whitehill (Washington Freedom)
MIDFIELDERS (8): Yael Averbuch (Sky Blue FC), Shannon Boxx (Los Angeles Sol), Tobin Heath (UNC), Carli Lloyd (Sky Blue FC), Christine Nairn (Penn State), Heather O’Reilly (Sky Blue FC), Leslie Osborne (Boston Breakers), Megan Rapinoe (Chicago Red Stars)
FORWARDS (6): Lauren Cheney (UCLA), Ella Masar (Chicago Red Stars), Casey Nogueira (UNC), Kelley O’Hara (Stanford), Amy Rodriguez (Philadelphia Independence), Abby Wambach (Washington Freedom)