U-20 USWYNT roster selected for 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia

CHICAGO – U.S. Under-20 Women’s Youth National Team head coach Tracey Kevins has named the 21 players who will represent the United States at the 2024 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia running from Aug. 31-Sept. 22.

The USA roster is composed of eight professional players currently in the National Women’s Soccer League, 12 college players and one player still in youth soccer. The eight pros are the most ever for a U.S. team in a FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. Players born on or after Jan. 1, 2004, are age-eligible for the World Cup and the USA roster features 13 players born in 2004, four born in 2005 and four born in 2006.

Ten of the 20 players who helped the USA qualify for this World Cup in the spring of 2023 at the Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship made the World Cup roster.

“We couldn’t be more excited to have this group of young and talented players represent us at the U-20 Women’s World Cup,” said Kevins. “We are grateful to the NWSL clubs and colleges that collaborated with us on the release of their players to provide them with the unique opportunity to represent their country on the biggest international stage for their age group.”

2024 FIFA U.S. U-20 Women’s World Cup Roster by Position (College or Club; Hometown; U-20 Caps/Goals)

GOALKEEPERS (3): Caroline Birkel (St. Louis Scott Gallagher; St. Louis, Mo.; 0), Mackenzie Gress (Penn State; Lyndhurst, N.J.; 5), Teagan Wy (California; Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.; 8)

DEFENDERS (6): Jordyn Bugg (Seattle Reign; El Cajon, Calif.; 12/0), Elise Evans (Stanford; Redwood City, Calif.; 12/0), Heather Gilchrist (Florida State, Boulder, Colo.; 6/0), Savy King (Bay FC; West Hills, Calif.; 12/0), Leah Klenke (Notre Dame; Houston, Texas; 11/0), Gisele Thompson (Angel City FC; Studio City, Calif.; 7/1)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Sam Courtwright (Texas Tech; Dallas, Texas; 8/0), Claire Hutton (Kansas City Current; Bethlehem, N.Y.; 5/0), Riley Jackson (North Carolina Courage; Roswell, Ga.; 8/1), Ally Lemos (Orlando Pride; Glendora, Calif.; 13/1), Yuna McCormack (Virginia; Mill Valley, Calif.; 0/0), Taylor Suarez (Florida State; Charlotte, N.C.; 8/1)

FORWARDS (6): Emeri Adames (Seattle Reign; Red Oak, Texas; 6/1), Maddie Dahlien (North Carolina; Edina, Minn.; 8/4), Jordynn Dudley (Florida State; Milton, Ga.; 9/3), Giana Riley (Florida State; Manteca, Calif.; 8/1), Ally Sentnor (Utah Royals; Hanson, Mass.; 16/9), Pietra Tordin (Princeton; Miami, Fla.; 7/2)

Six players on this U-20 WWC roster played for the USA in the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India: defenders Savy King, Jordyn Bugg and Gisele Thompson, midfielders Riley Jackson and Taylor Suarez and forward Emeri Adames. Forward Ally Sentnor, who is the USA’s most capped player and top scorer, and goalkeeper Teagan Wy were on the USA’s 2022 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Team. Wy was a back-up on that squad and did not see action, but Sentnor, the #1 pick in the 2024 NWSL Draft by the Utah Royals, scored against Ghana and had a goal called back due to a close offside call against the Netherlands.

“The U-20 age group has provided many players with the opportunity to take another step towards playing for our Women’s National Team and the experience of playing in World Cup tournament is not something you can replicate,” added Kevins. “I know as a group they are all excited to test themselves on the world stage as they all strive to take their soccer careers to the next level.”

For the first time ever, and in its 11th installment, the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup will feature 24 nations. This competition started in 2002 as a 12-team tournament played at the U-19 level. The 2004 tournament was also U-19s before moving to U-20s for the 2006 tournament. The USA has played in every FIFA tournament at this age level.

The 24 teams that will compete in the tournament are host Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay, Venezuela and Argentina from South America, France, Spain, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands from Europe, the USA, Mexico, Canada and Costa Rica from Concacaf, Cameroon, Morocco, Nigeria and Ghana from Africa, Australia, Korea Republic, Japan and Korea DPR from Asia and New Zealand and Fiji from Oceania.

The first-time participants in this tournament are Austria, Cameroon, Fiji and Morocco while 16 teams return from the 2022 edition.

The 24 participating nations were drawn into six groups of four teams. The top two finishers in each group along with the four best third-place teams will advance to the Round of 16 to be played on Wednesday, Sept. 11 and Thursday, Sept. 12. The winners of those matches advance to the Quarterfinals on Sunday, Sept. 15, from which the winners will advance to the Semifinals on Wednesday, Sept. 18. The Third-Place Match will be held on Saturday, Sept. 21 with the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup Final taking place on Sunday, Sept. 22.

Matches will take place at four stadiums in three Colombian cities: Bogotá’s El Campín Stadium and El Techo Stadium, Cali’s Pascual Guerrero Stadium and Medellin’s Atanasio Girardot Stadium.

The USA will open the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup on Sunday, Sept. 1 (4 p.m. ET) against reigning FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup champions Spain, will face Morocco on Wednesday, Sept. 4 (9 p.m. ET) and will finish the group stage vs. Paraguay on Saturday, Sept. 7 (7 p.m. ET). The U.S. will play its first two group games at Pascual Guerrero Stadium in Cali and its third at El Techo Stadium in the capital of Bogotá.

Additional Notes

• This will be the second World Cup as U.S. head coach for Tracey Kevins, who took over the program in October of 2021 after previously leading the U.S. U-17 WYNT. She coached the USA at the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup and served as head coach for the U-17 and U-19 England Women’s National Teams during tournaments and training camps. She was an assistant coach for the England team that finished second at the 2007 U-19 Women’s Euros and for the team that finished in the top four in 2008. She was also an assistant coach for England at the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Chile.
• The 10 players who made the roster who were a part of the Concacaf qualifying team are goalkeepers Teagan Wy and Mackenzie Gress, defenders Elise Evans, Gisele Thompson, Leah Klenke and Savy King, midfielder Ally Lemos, and forwards Maddie Dahlien, Ally Sentnor and Jordynn Dudley.
• The World Cup roster features one player still in high school and that’s 5-11 goalkeeper Caroline Birkel, who plays for St. Louis Scott Gallagher.
• The roster features eight pros, one rising college freshman, three rising college sophomores, one redshirt college sophomore, seven rising college juniors and Birkel.
• All the USA’s professional players are in their rookie years for National Women’s Soccer League clubs with midfielder Claire Hutton (Kansas City Current) and Sentnor (the #1 pick in the 2024 NWSL draft for the Utah Royals) seeing the most minutes among their peers so far this year. Defender Gisele Thompson (who joined her older sister Alyssa at Angel City FC this season), defender Savy King (the #2 pick in the 2024 NWSL Draft for Bay FC), midfielder Ally Lemos (the #9 pick in the 2024 NWSL Draft by the Orlando Pride), midfielder and former U.S. U-17 WYNT captain Riley Jackson (North Carolina Courage) and forward Emeri Adames (Seattle Reign) have all seen action for their clubs this season. Seventeen-year-old defender Jordan Bugg recently signed with Seattle.
• While Sentnor, King and Lemos were all high draft picks, the other five pros – Jackson, Adames, Thompson, Hutton and Bugg — all signed professional contracts as high schoolers under the NWSL Under-18 Entry Mechanism, opting out of college soccer.
• Thompson is the only player on the roster who has seen training time with the senior U.S. Women’s National Team, that coming during the USA’s June training camp this year.
• All players on the roster have been capped at the U-20 level except for Birkel and midfielder Yuna McCormack, who was a part of the U.S. team that won the 2018 Concacaf Girls’ U-15 Championship.
• Sentnor, in her second U-20 cycle, is unsurprisingly the most experienced player on the roster with 16 U-20 caps heading into the World Cup and is also the USA’s leading scorer with nine international goals.
• Earlier this NWSL season, Adames, another veteran of the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, became the youngest scorer in Seattle Reign history. She also played for the USA at the 2023 Pan American Games, where she scored in the 2-1 semifinal loss to the senior Chile Women’s National Team, getting the ball past one of the world’s best goalkeepers, Christiane Endler.
• Defender Jordyn Bugg, Hutton and Thompson also played in the Pan Ams, giving them excellent experience against senior National Teams.
• Five-foot-11 forward Jordynn Dudley, along with college teammate Heather Gilchrist, had a big 2023 college season, helping Florida State win the NCAA Championship. Dudley was named ACC Freshman of the Year after scoring a remarkable 14 goals with nine assists, including a goal and an assist in the NCAA Championship Game. Gilchrist, as a sophomore, started all 21 matches for the Seminoles.
• Forward Maddie Dahlien, who tied with Sentnor for leading scorer in qualifying with four goals, is a former Minnesota state track champion in the 100M and 200M.
• The roster is made up of players from seven different pro clubs, nine different colleges and one youth club, with Birkel, a Stanford commit, representing St. Louis Scott Gallagher.
• Florida State has four players on the roster.
• Forward Giana Riley, who has since transferred to Florida State, led the West Coast Conference in scoring for Gonzaga last season with 12 goals to go along with six assists.
• Princeton forward Pietra Tordin, a rare Ivy Leaguer on a U.S. World Cup Team, made a dramatic U-20 WYNT debut in February, scoring a late game-winner in a 1-0 victory over Colombia in Bogotá. The USA won the second game of that trip 1-0 as well, on a goal from Sentnor.
• Midfielder Sam Courtwright was the 2023 Big 12 Freshman of the Year. She had five goals and eight assists in helping lead Texas Tech to the regular season conference title.
• There are eight players on the roster from California — six from SoCal and two from NorCal — three from Texas and two from Georgia.
• Three additional players will train with the USA in Colombia up until the start of the tournament, those being defender Reese Klein, midfielder Addison Halpern and forward Katie Shea Collins.