U.S. U-19 Women’s Youth National Team roster selected for 2023 Pan American Games

CHICAGO – U.S. U-19 Women’s Youth National Team head coach Carrie Kveton has named a roster of 18 players that will travel to Chile to compete in the women’s soccer competition at the 2023 Pan American Games.

This will be the first time since 2007 that U.S. Soccer has sent a women’s team to the Pan American Games, a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring Olympic summer sports.

U.S. U-19 WOMEN’S YOUTH NATIONAL TEAM (CLUB; HOMETOWN) – 2023 PAN AMERICAN GAMES

Goalkeepers (2): Sonoma Kasica (Florida Premier FC; St. Petersburg, Fla.), Kealey Titmuss (Nationals; Grand Blanc, Mich.)

Defenders (6): Aven Alvarez (North Carolina Courage; New Hill, N.C.), Jordan Bugg (San Diego Surf SC; El Cajon, Calif.), Nicki Fraser (Real Colorado; Highlands Ranch, Colo.), Reese Klein (Florida United SC; Cooper City, Fla.), Sam Smith (Boise Timbers Thorns FC; Boise, Idaho), Gisele Thompson (Total Futbol Academy; Studio City, Calif.)

Midfielders (6): Kendall Bodak (New England FC; Monson, Mass.), Claire Hutton (World Class FC; Bethlehem, N.Y.), Eleanor Klinger (Internationals SC; Cleveland, Ohio), Charlotte Kohler (MVLA SC; Woodside, Calif.), Lauren Martinho (North Carolina Courage; Cary, N.C.), Grace Restovich (St. Louis Scott Gallagher; St. Louis, Mo.)

Forwards (4): Emeri Adames (Solar SC; Red Oak, Texas), Katie Shea Collins (Tennessee SC; Gallatin, Tenn.), Ava McDonald (FC Dallas; Allen, Texas), Amalia Villarreal (Michigan Jaguars FC; Lansing, Mich.),

Alternates: M Izzy Engle (Minnesota Thunder; Edina, Minn.), F Miri O’Donnell (FC Bay Area Surf; San Ramon, Calif.), D Carla Small (IMG Academy; Waipahu, Hawaii), F Bella Winn (World Class FC; Ridgewood, N.J.)

The competition features two groups of four teams each with the top two finishers in each group advancing to the semifinals. The USA is in Group B and will face Venezuela on Oct. 22 at Estadio Sausalito (3 p.m. local / 2 p.m. ET) followed by Costa Rica on Oct. 25 at Estadio Elias Figueroa (1 p.m. local / Noon ET) and Argentina on Oct. 28 (3 p.m. local / 2 p.m. ET). The semifinals will be on Oct. 31 and the bronze and gold medal matches will be contested on Nov. 3.

The teams that finish in third place in the groups will play for fifth place and the teams that finish in fourth will play for seventh.

While the USA will face teams consisting mostly of senior National Team players, the USA will bring a U-19 team featuring the younger part of the USA’s Under-20 Women’s National Team player pool. The entire roster has yet to enter college as the collegiate players in the U-20 pool are all currently embroiled in their college campaigns.

Still, seven players on the roster played for the USA at the 2022 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, in which the USA dominated Nigeria before falling in penalty kicks in the quarterfinal, so they have some experience at a major world event.

“We have a lot of up-and-coming players on this roster who have some exciting potential, so this tournament will be a great experience for them,” said Kveton. “We’re a young team, but the players have had some experience playing together and our coaching staff has worked with a lot of them in the past. It will be a huge challenge for our players to be immersed in the environment of a big tournament where the pressure is on to perform every game.  We’re going to be playing against older players so we’ll see a higher level of physicality and speed which will be a good test for them to see where they are at in this stage of their careers.”

All the players on the U.S. roster are age-eligible for the team that will compete in the 2024 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup about a year from now in Colombia. Kveton named a Pan Am roster with 15 players born in 2006 and five born in 2005. The age cut-off to play in the U-20 World Cup next year is players born on or after Jan. 1, 2004.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• Group A in the women’s soccer competition features host Chile, Jamaica, Mexico and Paraguay.
• The U.S. players who played in the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup are defenders Nicki Fraser and Jordyn Bugg, midfielders Charlotte Kohler and Lauren Martinho, forwards Sam Smith (who is a defender on this roster), Emeri Adames and Amalia Villarreal.
• Smith and Kohler each scored twice in the World Cup against Morrocco in group play. Villarreal scored the USA’s lone goal in the 1-1 draw with Nigeria in the quarterfinal before it went to PKs.
• The 18 players come from 17 different youth clubs with only the North Carolina Courage placing two players on the roster. The players come from 12 different states including one from Idaho (Smith).
• Gisele Thompson, younger sister of Angel City and U.S. Women’s National Team forward Alyssa Thompson, plays for the Total Futbol Academy boys’ team in MLS NEXT.
• U.S. Soccer has competed in two Pan American Games for women’s soccer, the first in 1999 in Canada when U.S. Under-18 Women’s National Team, coached by Jay Hoffman, won the gold medal with a 1-0 victory over an older Mexico squad.
• U.S. Soccer sent an Under-20 women’s team to the 2007 Pan American Games in Brazil and advanced to the gold medal game by beating the senior Canada Women’s National Team, 2-1, in the semifinal, but then ran into a buzzsaw host side at the famed Maracanã Stadium and lost 5-0 to earn a silver medal. That U.S. team, coached by future two-time Women’s World Cup champion Jill Ellis, featured several future USWNT stars, including Alyssa Naeher, Lauren Cheney, Kelley O’Hara and Tobin Heath.