USWNT Roster Pared As Olympics Approach
U.S. Women's National Team Coach Pia Sundhage has named a 22-player roster for the Peace Cup in South Korea later this month, the last major tournament for the team before the Olympics begin.
Shannon Boxx of Torrance, Amy Rodriguez of USC and Lauren Cheney of UCLA all made the roster, which will be cut again to 18 players for the Olympics.
Exactly half the roster was on the gold-medal winning team in Athens four years ago.
Released from the recent two-week camp at Home Depot Center that just ended were goalkeeper Kristen Luckenbill, defenders Keeley Dowling, Kendall Fletcher and Stephanie Cox, midfielder Angie Woznuk and forward India Trotter. Midfielder Leslie Osborne tore her left ACL during training camp and is out of the Olympics, you'll recall.
Three recent injury victyims made the squad: goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart (knee surgery), captain Christie Rampone (gall bladder surgery) and midfielder Aly Wagner (double-hernia surgery).
The full roster: goalkeepers Nicole Barnhart (Gilbertsville, Pa.), Briana Scurry (Dayton, Minn.), Hope Solo (Richland, Wash.); defvenders Rachel Buehler (Del Mar, Calif.), Lori Chalupny (St. Louis, Mo.), Kate Markgraf (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), Heather Mitts (Cincinnati, Ohio), Christie Rampone (Point Pleasant, N.J.), Cat Whitehill (Birmingham, Ala.); midfielders Shannon Boxx (Torrance), Tobin Heath (Basking Ridge, N.J.), Angela Hucles (Virginia Beach, Va.), Carli Lloyd (Delran, N.J.), Heather O'Reilly (East Brunswick, N.J.), Lindsay Tarpley (Kalamazoo, Mich.), Aly Wagner (San Jose, Calif.), Kacey White (Arlington, Texas); forwards Lauren Cheney (Indianapolis, Ind.), Natasha Kai (Kahuku, Hawaii), Amy Rodriguez (Lake Forest, Calif.), Abby Wambach (Rochester, N.Y.).
Meanwhile, fan voting continues for the MLS All-Star game against England's West Ham United.
Here are the top ten vote-getters so far:
1. David Beckham (Galaxy).
2. Landon Donovan (Galaxy).
3. Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Chicago Fire).
4. Amado Guevara (Toronto FC).
5. Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew).
6. Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew).
7. Dwayne De Rosario (Houston Dynamo).
8. Greg Sutton (Toronto FC).
9. Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew).
10. Maurice Edu (Toronto FC).
Two Galaxy players and three Southern Californians (Rogers, Edu and Hejduk) are on the list.
Voting continues through July 2 at the MLS Web site.
About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook.
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