Yesterday, on Friday, February 24, U.S. Soccer announced the U-23 Women’s National Team roster for the La Manga tournament. This roster will travel to La Manga, Spain from February 25 to March 7 and play three matches. They will face Japan on March 2, England on March 4, and Norway on March 7.
The roster of 22 consists of four college players, 16 NWSL players (11 selected from the 2017 NWSL College Draft and five with one professional season under their belt), one player playing in Iceland and a high school senior. The squad will be coached by Seattle Reign head coach and general manager Laura Harvey, who has two of her players on the roster.
Seven of these players have been in called up to the full USWNT, and out of those seven only one - Ashley Hatch - has made an appearance with the full team. Nine players on this roster have participated in the FIFA Women’s World Cup at the youth level in previous years.
After this tournament, the U-23s will take part in the Portland Thorns’ Spring Invitational which also features hosts Portland Thorns, the Houston Dash and the Chicago Red Stars. This tournament will take place at the end of March, just a few weeks before the NWSL kicks off its fifth season.
Roster by Position
GOALKEEPERS: Casey Murphy (Rutgers), Madalyn Schiffel (Seattle Reign)
DEFENDERS: Mandy Freeman (Sky Blue FC), Adrienne Jordan (IBV), Kristen McNabb (Seattle Reign), Kayla Mills (Sky Blue FC), Katie Naughton (Chicago Red Stars), Erica Skroski (Sky Blue FC), Samantha Witteman (North Carolina Courage)
MIDFIELDERS: Morgan Andrews (Boston Breakers), Tierna Davidson (Stanford), Christina Gibbons (FC Kansas City), Tyler Lussi (Portland Thorns), Emily Ogle (Penn State), Margaret Purce (Boston Breakers), Ashley Sanchez (SoCal Blues), Dani Weatherholt (Orlando Pride)
FORWARDS: Celeste Boureille (Portland Thorns), Makenzy Doniak (NC Courage), Ashley Hatch (NC Courage), Savannah McCaskill (South Carolina), Arielle Ship (Washington Spirit)