W-League Feature
Monday, February 24, 2014
TAMPA, Fla. – The U.S. Women’s National Team squad for the 2014 Algarve Cup was named on Monday, with a number of current and former W-League standouts set to head to Portugal next month as part of Tom Sermanni’s team. Called up for the first time was 2013 W-League champion Sarah Killion of the LA Blues SC, who joins Blues teammate Sam Mewis on the roster.
Killion, who will return to play for the Blues this summer, is set to join Mewis in a midfield that also contains former New Jersey Wildcats standouts Heather O’Reilly and Carli Lloyd, and former Seattle Sounders Women winger Megan Rapinoe. Both Killion and Mewis earned back-to-back championships in 2013, also claiming the NCAA Division I title with UCLA after the Blues’ victory at IMG Academy that summer.
Overall, 17 members of the 24-player squad are either current or former members of the W-League, with the side set to be led offensively by the trio of former Rochester Ravens standout Abby Wambach, 2011 W-League Rookie of the Year Sydney Leroux and another former Blues standout, Christen Press. Now with Swedish club Tyreso, Press leads the U.S. with three goals this year and has 11 in 14 appearances for the national team overall.
All three goalkeepers in the squad are W-League alumni, with former Sounders Women goalkeeper Hope Solo set to hold the starting role and former Hudson Valley Quickstrike player Jill Loyden and Western Mass Lady Pioneers GK Alyssa Naeher also named. As with Mewis and Killion, Naeher – who was the Pioneers starter in the W-League at the age of 18 – is hoping for her first appearance for the national team.
The United States is set to face Japan, Sweden and Denmark in the tournament’s group stage, with the opening contest a rematch of the 2012 Olympic Final against Japan on March 5.
Also announced on Monday was Canada’s squad for the 2014 Cyprus Cup, with all 20 members of the squad selected by John Herdman having previously played in the W-League. The side is led by USL Hall of Fame member Christine Sinclair, who is joined by a number of strong young players that competed last summer in the W-League.
Former Laval Comets standout Nkem Ezurike, who helped her side reach the 2013 W-League Championship Game, is hoping to make her first appearance after starring in the past for Canada’s U20 side. Also in attack is Josee Belanger, who spent the 2013 season with the Quebec Dynamo ARSQ.
Former Vancouver Whitecaps Women defender Robyn Gayle also returns to the side, while Toronto Lady Lynx defender Kadeisha Buchanan remains in the squad alongside fellow W-League alumni Diana Matheson, Emily Zurrer and Sophie Schmitt.
Canada opens the Cyprus Cup against Finland on March 5, and will also face Italy and England in the tournament’s group stage.