Chantel Jones called into U-20 women's team for camp
Article Courtesy of Potomac Soccer Wire

U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team head coach Tony DiCicco will bring 24 players to Park City, Utah, for a training camp from June 8-13, which will serve as the final preparation before the squad enters CONCACAF Qualifying for the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.

Former Strikers player Chantel Jones is among those called and hoping to earn a spot on the final roster.

Park City, which sits at almost 7,000 feet, will help acclimate the players for the CONCACAF competition being held at Estadio Cuauhtemoc in Puebla, Mexico, which is located at just over 7,000 feet. The eight-team 2008 CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship will feature eight teams broken into two groups of four teams each. The USA will face Trinidad & Tobago (June 18), Cuba (June 20) and Mexico (June 22) in Group A play. Group B features Canada, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Jamaica. The all-important semifinals will be held on June 25 with the third-place match championship game taking place on June 28. Estadio Cuauhtemoc holds over 45,000 fans.

The top three finishers in the qualifying tournament will earn berths to the U-20 Women’s World Cup being held Nov. 19-Dec. 7 in Chile.

“Dealing with altitude is no easy task and requires approximately three weeks of training at altitude to become totally acclimated, which, of course, we don’t have,” said DiCicco. “But for psychological as well as physiological reasons, we are going to Park City to train at almost 7000 feet. From zero to 5000 feet there is not much difference, but every 1000 feet above 5000 feet, the maximum oxygen intake is reduced by three percent, which is considerable. To train at altitude is important for us and hopefully we can go to Mexico much more confident.”

DiCicco will also use this camp to pare down his roster from 24 to the 20 who will travel to Mexico in an attempt to qualify for the fourth FIFA youth world championship at this age level. The 2002 and 2004 tournaments were held as Under-19 events before moving to Under-20 for the 2006 tournament in Russia. The four players not selected for qualifying will be alternates for the squad.

The U-20s will also be entering an exciting and challenging environment in Puebla, playing three games in the summer heat and humidity while facing the host country in the final group match in front of what will surely be a partisan home crowd. The full U.S. Women’s National Team recently played Mexico in Ciudad Juarez during Olympic qualifying and a sell-out crowd of over 22,000 turned out for the match.

DiCicco has spent the last five months looking at players as he whittled down the pool to the 24 players who will head to Park City. The roster features two members of the U.S. team that took fourth at the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in midfielder Kelley O’Hara, who with two goals in the tournament was one of the USA’s top players in Russia, and forward Casey Nogueira, who was one of the youngest players on that team.

DiCicco inherited a talented player pool when he took over from former U.S. U-20 coach Jillian Ellis in January after Ellis joined the staff of U.S. head coach Pia Sundhage for the full U.S. Women’s National Team. Since then, DiCicco and his staff have identified about six to eight players who could play key roles in qualifying and hopefully the World Cup.

“We have gotten faster, better playing back-to-goal and have excellent team depth, which is one of the main strengths of this team,” said DiCicco. “We have a number of players who could be starters and I’m hoping that our depth will allow us to play well because we will have to play five games in 11 days during qualifying and hopefully win the tournament.”

Other top players for this year’s U-20 team include forward Michelle Enyeart, who trained with the full U.S. Women’s National Team earlier this year, and defensive midfielder Keelin Winters. Nikki Washington adds additional speed on the flank while relative newcomers Alex Morgan and Nikki Marshall have shown well. Youngsters Christine Nairn and Teresa Noyola, who are two of the three players born in 1990 on the roster, are also in the running for the qualifying team. The other 1990 is forward Sydney Leroux, a naturalized Canadian who actually played for Canada in the 2004 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Thailand. Midfielder Becky Edwards should also be a key player for the USA in the holding midfielder slot.

UNITED STATES UNDER-20 WOMEN’S NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM
Training Camp Roster – June 8-13 – Park City, Utah

Player	Pos.	Ht.	Birthdate	Hometown	College / Youth Club
Arnold, Kristin	GK	6-0	6/5/1988	Centennial, Colo.	Texas A&M / Real Colorado
Dallstream, Kiersten	F	5-6	3/5/1988	Fountain Hills, Ariz.	Washington State / Sereno
DiMartino, Gina	F	5-3	7/31/1988	Massapequa Park, N.Y.	Boston College / Commack Emeralds
Edwards, Becky	M	5-7	5/22/1988	Downington, Pa.	Florida State / Westchester Predators
Enyeart, Michelle	F	5-6	7/26/1988	Hemet, Calif.	Portland / Laguna Hills Eclipse
Fountain, Kaley	D	5-7	7/1/1988	Austin, Texas	Wake Forest / The Lonestars 88
Fowlkes, Lauren	D	5-10	7/6/1988	Lee’s Summit, Mo.	Notre Dame / KC Dynamos
Harkin, Liz	D	5-4	3/28/1988	Granite Bay, Calif.	Arizona State / San Juan Soccer
Jones, Chantel	GK	5-11	7/20/1988	Midlothian, Va.	Virginia / Richmond Strikers
Klingenberg, Meghan	M	5-2	8/2/1988	Gibsonia, Pa.	North Carolina / Hot Spurs
Leroux, Sydney	F	5-7	5/7/1990	Phoenix, Ariz.	Horizon HS / Sereno FC
Macdonald, Brittney	D	5-10	7/6/1989	Littleton, Colo.	Miami / Real Colorado
Marshall, Nikki	D	5-7	6/2/1988	Mead, Colo.	Colorado / Colorado GSA
McDonald, Jessica	F	5-10	2/28/1988	Glendale, Ariz.	Phoenix College / Sereno FC
Morgan, Alex	F	5-7	7/2/1989	Diamond Bar, Calif.	California / Cypress Elite
Naeher, Alyssa	GK	5-9	4/20/1988	Seymour, Conn.	Penn State / South Central Premier
Nairn, Christine	M	5-5	9/25/1990	Bowie, Md.	Archbishop Spalding / Freestate Shooters
Nogueira, Casey	F	5-6	2/23/1989	Raleigh, N.C.	North Carolina / CASL Spartan Elite
Noyola, Teresa	M	5-2	4/15/1990	Palo Alto, Calif.	Palo Alto HS / MVLA Mercury
O’Hara, Kelley	F	5-5	8/4/1988	Fayetteville, Ga.	Stanford / PTC Lazers 88Elite
Reed, Elli	D	5-3	8/10/1989	Park City, Utah	Portland / Utah Avalanche Premier
Washington, Nikki	F	5-4	8/1/1988	Mesquite, Texas	North Carolina / Dallas Texans
Wells, Ingrid	M	5-3	3/29/1989	Montclair, N.J.	Georgetown / Parsippany SC
Winters, Keelin	M	5-8	12/9/1988	Denver, Colo.	Portland / Real Colorado

Staff:
Head Coach: Tony DiCicco Wethersfield, Conn.
Asst. Coach: Tom Stone Lubbock, Texas
Asst. Coach: Kat Mertz Las Vegas, Nevada
Asst. Coach: Amanda Cromwell Orlando, Fla.