June 13, (THEWILL) – Vlatko Andonovski, the head coach of the United States Women’s National Team, has named a 23-player lineup that will compete in the 2022 CONCACAF Women’s Championship in Mexico, an eight-team tournament for which spots to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the 2024 Paris Olympics are on the line.
Prior to the team’s departure for Mexico, Andonovski also picked three extra players who will be part of a 26-player BioSteel Training Camp for the two matches against Colombia, and will name 23 players from that group to suit up for each of the two matches against Colombia. The inaugural match, presented by Allstate, will take place at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado on Saturday, June 25.
Midfielder Lindsey Horan (Golden), midfielder Jaelin Howell (Windsor), and forwards Mallory Pugh (Highlands Ranch) and Sophia Smith (Highlands Ranch) are among the 26 players on the roster who will compete for minutes in front of their home crowd. Horan is coming off of helping Olympique Lyon win a record eighth UEFA Women’s Champions League title as well as the French Division 1 Féminine title (Windsor). Taylor Kornieck, a first-time call-up, was a star midfielder for the University of Colorado in Boulder.
The coach said: “Since we were last together in April, we’ve been evaluating a lot of games and hours of video and have had extensive conversations among the coaching staff to arrive at this 26-player roster for the Colombia games and the final 23 for qualifying.
“As usual, the players don’t make these decisions easy, but we feel this is a roster that can accomplish all of our goals over the four weeks we will be together for what we hope will be seven successful games.”
The full squad includes
GOALKEEPERS
Aubrey Kingsbury (Washington Spirit)
Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage)
Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)
DEFENDERS
Alana Cook (OL Reign)
Emily Fox (Racing Louisville FC)
Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave FC)
Sofia Huerta (OL Reign)
Kelley O’Hara (Washington Spirit)
Becky Sauerbrunn (Portland Thorns FC)
Emily Sonnett (Washington Spirit)
MIDFIELDERS
Lindsey Horan (Olympique Lyon, FRA)
Taylor Kornieck (San Diego Wave FC)
Rose Lavelle (OL Reign)
Kristie Mewis (NJ/NY Gotham FC)
Ashley Sanchez (Washington Spirit)
Andi Sullivan (Washington Spirit)
FORWARDS
Ashley Hatch (Washington Spirit)
Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave FC)
Mallory Pugh (Chicago Red Stars)
Midge Purce (NJ/NY Gotham FC)
Megan Rapinoe (OL Reign)
Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit)
Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns FC)
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
