Dec. 9, 2009
CHICAGO, Ill.-The U.S. Under-23 Women's National Team called senior forward Katie Schoepfer (Waterford, Conn.) into training camp set for Dec. 13-20. Head coach Bill Irwin announced the 24-player, eight-day camp last week that will include Schoepfer, the team's leading scorer this past summer.
Schoepfer, the 2009 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, unanimous First Team All-Big Ten Selection, NSCAA First Team All-Great Lakes honoree and M.A.C. Hermann Trophy Finalist, will join 23 others including 11 from Women's Professional Soccer clubs in Carson, Calif.
This training camp comes on the heels of the senior Women's National Team's training camp taking place right now that includes freshman midfielder Christine Nairn (Bowie, Md.) and two-time NSCAA First Team All-American goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher (Seymour, Conn.). Nairn and Naeher were both named to the NSCAA First Team All-Great Lakes earlier this week.
Three days of the two camps will overlap, which will allow head coach Pie Sundhage of the senior team to evaluate the younger players from the U-23 squad. Both teams will train with and compete against one another during the overlap period. In all, 13 players are from collegiate programs including 11 seniors. Total, there are 20 collegiate athletes at the two training camps, three of which are Nittany Lions.
Schoepfer and Nairn are both candidates for the U.S. Soccer Young Athlete of the Year Award, which fans can vote for through Dec. 13. The voting counts for 50 percent of the entire decision making process. Fans can vote HERE.
For complete coverage of Penn State women's soccer, please visit http://www.GoPSUsports.com/sports/w-soccer.
Follow Penn State women's soccer on Twitter: @PSUWomensSoccer
--NITTANY LIONS--