May 13, 2010
CHICAGO, Ill./UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.--Penn State will be well represented this month on two U.S. Women's National teams as Nittany Lion alum Ali Kreiger, sophomore Christine Nairn (Arnold, Md.) and incoming freshman Maya Hayes (Livingston, N.J.) report for respective National Team duties. Also, the Penn State squad finished its spring season in April with a 2-1-1 record in full-length games.
On Wednesday, May 12, U.S. Senior Women's National Team head coach Pia Sundhage announced her 22-player roster for a Mayy 22 friendly against Germany at Cleveland Browns Stadium. On the roster was 2006 PSU Soccer alum Ali Krieger, who is currently a member of FFC Frankfurt in the German Women's Bundesliga. Last season, Krieger made 11 appearances for the U.S.-based Washington Freedom of Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) while on loan. Krieger will make her first national team pool appearance since January 2008.
Nairn and Hayes were named to the 23-player squad for pre-World Cup matches against New Zealand and Mexico ahead of the 2010 FIFA U-20 World Cup. The training camp began on May 8 and will continue until May 23. The U-20 squad plays New Zealand tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET and Saturday at 3:00 p.m. ET at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. Two matches against Mexico are scheduled for May 20 and 22 at 7:00 p.m. ET at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. The U-20 World Cup begins this July in Germany with the United States facing off against Ghana (July 14), Switzerland (July 17) and South Korea (July 21).
On the home front, Penn State capped its 2010 spring season with three games from April 17-23. Penn State dropped a 1-0, 45-minute match to Penn on Saturday, April 17. Following the exhibition loss, PSU downed Pittsburgh, 2-1, in a 60-minute match of two 30-minute halves.
In the team's final match of the 2010 spring season, the Nittany Lions took on ACC-rival Maryland during Blue-White Weekend. A spirited match, Penn State took an early 1-0 lead about five minutes into the game when Ali Schaefer (Las Vegas, Nev.) struck a gorgeous ball to the upper left corner of the net off a feed from Nairn. Megan Monroig (Northumberland, Pa.) added another goal for Penn State, while Kristin Hartmann (Katy, Texas) made a fantastic late-game save to preserve a 2-1 win.
Penn State was without the services of Danielle Toney (Northville, Mich.), who was with the U.S. U-23 team in a training camp in Corvallis, Ore. There, the Americans defeated Oregon State, 1-0, on Apr. 22 and Toney's late-game goal against the University of Portland gave the U-23 squad a 2-1 win. Also not with the Nittany Lions during the Maryland game was sophomore defender Lexi Marton (Aurora, Ontario) who was on Canadian National Team assignment in China. The Canadians dropped a 2-0 decision to China on April 24 in front of 23,000 fans.
The Penn State women's soccer team is off from official duty until the first week in August when the team will convene for training camp in preparation for the 2010 season. The Nittany Lions will formally release their schedule later in May, but will kick off its season on August 21 with a game at regional rival West Virginia.
For more information the Penn State Sport Camps 2010 visit http://www.outreach.psu.edu/psu-sport-camps/
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--