United States women's national under-20 soccer team

The United States U-20 team has been active since 1998; however, it was run as a U-18 team from its inception until 2001.[1] It was led by Shannon Higgins-Cirovski, the first coach in the team's history, through the middle of 1999 before she left for the Maryland Terrapins soccer team. Jay Hoffman, who served as Higgins-Cirovski's assistant, took charge of the team and led them to a gold medal for the 1999 Pan American Games, the first time the tournament was open to women's teams. Among the U-18 women playing at the 1999 Pan American Games were future senior national team members Cat Whitehill and Hope Solo.[2]

In 2001, the United States Soccer Federation decided to change the age limit from the U-18 team to U-19. The move was in preparation for FIFA's introduction of the first ever FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship (which has since changed). The new U-19 squad won the inaugural 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship in Canada, where they beat the hosts on a golden goal by captain and future United States women's national team mainstay Lindsay Tarpley. Five other members of that same team would join Tarpley as teammates on the senior international team: Rachel Buehler, Lori Chalupny, Heather O'Reilly, Leslie Osborne and Angie Woznuk. Other notable 2002 team members were Kelly Wilson, the all-time leading goal scorer in the history of the U-20 team, as well as two-time Hermann Trophy winner Kerri Hanks, who would go on to become one of the most decorated players in women's collegiate soccer.

In 2004, the U-19 team placed third at the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship in Thailand, after having been defeated by Germany in the semifinals.[3] The tournament marked the world championship debut of future senior national team members Yael Averbuch, Stephanie Lopez, Amy Rodriguez and Megan Rapinoe. However, in 2006, FIFA increased the age limit of the FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship to 20. 2004 also saw the first loss to a similar-aged team in the history of the program when the squad lost to Japan.

As the United States Soccer Federation did in 2001 prior to the introduction of the U-19 tournament, they raised the age of the squad from U-19 to U-20 in 2005. The move was, again, in response to FIFA's altering of the competition from U-19 to U-20. The actual team's play in 2005 was quiet due to a transition in coaches.

In 2006, the United States U-20 team played in a whopping 50 matches prior to the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship in Russia; however, the team finished in fourth place. The U.S. lost to China in penalties in the semifinal and followed up the loss with another to Brazil in the third-place match, also on penalties.[4] Seven members of that 2006 team: Lauren Cheney, Christina DiMartino, Tobin Heath, Stephanie Lopez, Casey Nogueira, Kelley O'Hara and Amy Rodriguez, have made appearances for the senior national team. Lopez played in the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, and, joined by Cheney, Heath and Rodriguez, also represented the United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Nogueira and O'Hara helped the 2008 U-20 team to qualify for the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup that same year.

2007 saw the squad sent to the 2007 Pan American Games, just as they had done prior in the 1999 Pan American Games. This time around, the United States sent along two "over-aged players" in Lauren Cheney and Brittany Taylor. The decision proved costly as the supplemented U-20 team were dismantled in the finals, 5–0, to a full-strength Brazil squad.[5]

In 2008, two years removed from the disastrous fourth-place finish at the 2006 U-20 World Championship, the United States U-20 women finally reclaimed the World Cup title at the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Chile, with Sydney Leroux winning the Golden Ball and Golden Shoe for being named the best player of the tournament as well as scoring the most goals. Alex Morgan earned the Silver Shoe as the tournament's second-highest scorer and the Silver Ball as the tournament's second-best player behind teammate Leroux.[6] To date, Alex Morgan, Sydney Leroux, Christine Nairn, Alyssa Naeher, and Meghan Klingenberg are the only members of the 2008 squad to be capped by the senior national team.

In 2009, Tony DiCicco handed the coaching reins back to Jill Ellis, who had coached the 2007 Pan American Games squad. 2009 also saw the influx of players who took part in the inaugural FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup into the U-20s, including Kristen Mewis, US Soccer's 2008 Young Female Player of the Year, and Vicki DiMartino, younger sister of U-20 alumni Christina (2006) and Gina (2007–2008). Two members of the 2008 squad, Sydney Leroux and Christine Nairn, returned to captain the team through the next World Cup cycle.

The team won the 2010 CONCACAF Under-20 Women's Championship title the next year and secured a berth to the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, to be held in Germany. Sydney Leroux was the leading scorer at the tournament with six goals.[7] In the World Cup, they won their group, but lost on penalty kicks to Nigeria in the quarterfinals. Leroux was again their leading scorer, tallying five goals in their four matches.

In 2011, Steve Swanson was named coach of the squad for the second time, after having coached in 2000. To prepare for the 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Japan, the team played 8 friendlies (winning seven) and qualifying with ease for the World Cup, scoring 24 goals in the qualifying tournament, while conceding only once.

In the World Cup, the squad was led by a Maya Hayes hat trick en route to beating Ghana 4–0. After a 1–1 draw against China, and a 3–0 loss to Germany, the US qualified for the quarterfinals over China on goal differential. In the quarterfinals, Chioma Ubogagu scored in extra time in a 2–1 victory over North Korea. In the semifinal, Morgan Brian and Kealia Ohai scored in a 2–0 win over Nigeria. The final was a rematch with Germany. Ohai scored right before halftime, and the US held on for a 1–0 win and their third World Cup championship.

Following the 2012 World Cup win, Michelle French took over the U-20 program. Defenders Cari Roccaro and Stephanie Amack returned from the 2012 World Cup winning side to lead the team along with Paris Saint-Germain target woman Lindsey Horan, the first American woman to skip college and turn professional, and Andi Sullivan, who was named co-captain despite being the youngest player on the squad during qualifiers. The US team again coasted through the CONCACAF qualifying tournament, winning all 5 matches without even conceding a single goal. However, the World Cup would offer much greater resistance as they started out in the Group of Death with international powerhouses Germany, Brazil, and China.

The World Cup tournament would feature a large sense of deja vu from two years prior, with the Americans grouped with China and Germany again. The US opened in a rematch of the previous final against Germany, this time coming up short, losing 2–0. But in a similar manner that they had in the previous World Cup, they survived the group stage with wins against Brazil and China behind strong performances by Lindsey Horan and central midfielder Rose Lavelle. The second-place finish in their group would match them for the second tournament in a row against North Korea and as they had two years before, the match went into extra time. Unfortunately for the Americans, this time the winning magic was not to be found as the game went into a shootout from the penalty spot and the Korean keeper dominated. Savannah Jordan, Lindsey Horan, and Rose Lavelle were all denied by Korean keeper Kim on weak efforts from the spot and the Americans exited the tournament earlier than expected.

In 2016, the team participated in the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, and made it to the semifinals, where they lost to North Korea again in extra time.[8] They then lost to Japan in the third-place match.[9]

In February 2017, US Soccer reassigned Michelle French to be a full-time assistant coach for the senior women's national team,[10] with Jitka Klimková replacing her as head coach in April 2017.[11]

The team finished runners-up in the 2018 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship. In the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, the team failed to progress from the group stage for the first time in history.

The U-20 women have won the CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship six times, in 2006, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2020;[12] the 2002 tournament did not have a championship final.[13] The U-20s finished as runners-up to Canada in 2004 and 2008 and to Mexico in 2018.

Year	Result	Matches	Wins	Draws	Losses	GF	GA	Coach
2002	No final held	3	3	0	0	34	1	Tracey Leone
2004	Runners-up	5	3	1	1	32	3	Mark Krikorian
2006	Champions	5	5	0	0	19	3	Tim Schulz
2008	Runners-up	5	4	0	1	20	1	Tony DiCicco
2010	Champions	5	5	0	0	15	2	Jill Ellis
2012	Champions	4	4	0	0	24	1	Steve Swanson
2014	Champions	5	5	0	0	29	0	Michelle French
2015	Champions	5	4	1	0	22	3	Michelle French
2018	Runners-up	5	3	2	0	8	4	Jitka Klimková
2020	Champions	7	7	0	0	44	1	Laura Harvey
Total	9/9	49	43	4	2	247	19

The under-18 team participated and won the inaugural soccer tournament in the 1999 Pan American Games,[14] while the under-20 team lost in the final of the 2007 Pan American Games,[15] competing against full national teams. These opportunities are a consequence of holding the FIFA Women's World Cup in the same year as the Pan American Games.

Year	Result	Matches	Wins	Draws	Losses	GF	GA	Coach
1999	Champions	6	5	1	0	22	2	Jay Hoffman
2003	No United States team participated
2007	Runners-up	6	4	0	2	17	11	Jill Ellis
2011	No United States team participated
2015	No United States team participated
Total	2/4	12	9	1	3	39	13

The following 20 players were named to the squad for the 2020 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship.[16]

Caps and goals are current as of February 13, 2020.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Claudia Dickey		0	0	North Carolina Tar Heels
	1GK	Julia Dohle	(2001-02-06) February 6, 2001	6	0	Penn State Nittany Lions
	2DF	Maycee Bell	(2000-09-18) September 18, 2000	4	1	North Carolina Tar Heels
	2DF	Sierra Enge		0	0	Stanford Cardinal
	2DF	Naomi Girma	(2000-06-14) June 14, 2000	25	0	Stanford Cardinal
	2DF	Shae Holmes		2	0	Washington Huskies
	2DF	Brianna Martinez		4	0	Notre Dame Fighting Irish
	2DF	Emily Mason		2	0	PDA
	2DF	Kennedy Wesley		0	0	Stanford Cardinal
	3MF	Talia DellaPeruta		4	0	Köln
	3MF	Katelyn Duong	(2001-03-27) March 27, 2001	3	0	Minnesota Golden Gophers
	3MF	Jenna Nighswonger	(2000-11-28) November 28, 2000	4	1	Florida State Seminoles
	3MF	Brianna Pinto	(2000-05-24) May 24, 2000	32	4	North Carolina Tar Heels
	3MF	Alexa Spaanstra	(1998-07-19) July 19, 1998	13	2	Virginia Cavaliers
	3MF	Summer Yates	(2000-06-17) June 17, 2000	4	2	Washington Huskies
	4FW	Mia Fishel	(2001-04-30) April 30, 2001	0	0	UCLA Bruins
	4FW	Rebecca Jarrett		5	0	Virginia Cavaliers
	4FW	Samantha Meza		7	1	Solar SC
	4FW	Trinity Rodman		2	1	So Cal Blues SC
	4FW	Sophia Smith	(2000-08-10) August 10, 2000	27	23	Portland Thorns

The following players were named to a squad in the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Meagan McClelland				Rutgers Scarlet Knights	2020 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship ALT
DF	Natalia Staude	(2001-04-30) April 30, 2001			Virginia Cavaliers	2020 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship ALT
DF	Michela Agresti	(2001-07-24) July 24, 2001			Boston College Eagles	Training camp; January 9–20, 2020
DF	Samar Guidry				FC Dallas	Training camp; January 9–20, 2020
DF	Smith Hunter	(2002-01-04) January 4, 2002			Reign Academy	Training camp; January 9–20, 2020
DF	Bria Schrotenboer				Michigan State Spartans	Training camp; January 9–20, 2020
MF	Astrid Wheeler	(2001-08-20) August 20, 2001			Concorde Fire	2020 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship ALT
MF	Maya Doms				Stanford Cardinal	Training camp; January 9–20, 2020
MF	Avery Lockwood				Indiana Hoosiers	Training camp; January 9–20, 2020
FW	Catherine Barry				NEFC	Training camp; January 9–20, 2020
FW	Sydny Nasello	(2000-04-14) April 14, 2000			USF Bulls	Training camp; January 9–20, 2020

Notes:

• ALT: Alternate

2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup squad

2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup squad

2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup squad

2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup squad

2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup squad

2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup squad

2007 Pan American Games squad

2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship squad

2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship squad

2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship squad

International match statistics, as of August 12, 2014. All goals scored in international matches only.

Players still eligible for the U-20 player pool in bold.