BC Player on U20 Roster

DiMartino Makes Under-20 Group

June 17, 2008

Coach Tony DiCicco named the roster after a week of training in Park City, Utah, in an attempt to acclimate the U.S. team to the altitude of almost 7,000 feet it will experience at Estadio Cuauhtemoc in Puebla, where all the matches of the qualifying tournament will be played.

Gina DiMartino. (Photo source: BC Athletics)

The U.S. team has arrived in Mexico and opens the eight-team 2008 CONCACAF Women's Under-20 Championship against Trinidad & Tobago on Wednesday, June 18 before facing Cuba on June 20 and host Mexico June 22 in Group A play. Group B features Canada, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Jamaica. The semifinals will be held on June 25 with the third-place match championship game taking place on June 28.

"We have a very talented group with us that has excellent team depth, which is important for an event with five potential games in 12 days," said DiCicco. "There might not be a superstar yet at this stage, but we have great team chemistry. I have been really impressed with the leadership we have seen from the players, and the sense of mission they have demonstrated."

The top two finishers in each group after first-round play will cross-over for the semifinals. The USA must finish in the top-three (the winners of the semifinals and the third-place match) to earn one of 16 spots in the fourth FIFA women's youth world championship being staged from Nov. 19-Dec. 7 in four Chilean cities: Coquimbo, Santiago, Chillan and Temuco.

Eleven nations have already qualified. They are host Chile; Japan, China and North Korea from Asia; France, Germany, Norway and England from Europe; New Zealand from Oceania; and Brazil and Argentina from South America.

Roster by Position:
GOALKEEPERS (2): Kristin Arnold (Texas A&M), Alyssa Naeher (Penn State)

DEFENDERS (4): Kaley Fountain (Wake Forest), Lauren Fowlkes (Notre Dame), Nikki Marshall (Colorado), Elli Reed (Portland)

MIDFIELDERS (5): Becky Edwards (Florida State), Meghan Klingenberg (North Carolina), Christine Nairn (Bowie, Md.), Ingrid Wells (Georgetown), Keelin Winters (Portland)

FORWARDS (9): Kiersten Dallstream (Washington State), Gina DiMartino (Boston College), Michelle Enyeart (Portland), Sydney Leroux (Phoenix, Ariz.), Jessica McDonald (Glendale, Ariz.), Alex Morgan (California), Casey Noguira (North Carolina), Kelley O'Hara (Stanford), Nikki Washington (North Carolina)

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