Jan. 12, 2011
CHICAGO, Ill. - Penn State women's soccer freshmen Maya Hayes (West Orange, N.J.) and Bri Hovington (Lothian, Md.) will be apart of a 24-player training camp for the newest cycle of the U.S. U-20 National Team beginning Saturday. The Nittany Lion duo departs for camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. this week.
Hayes, one of four holdovers from the U-20 World Cup team this past summer, is with a group of six forwards for the training camp. Meanwhile, Hovington is one of eight defenders for the squad, which is under the coaching tutelage of Dave Chesler.
Hovington had a standout year for Penn State after a slow start. Recovering from a lingering knee injury, Hovington went on to be one of the best freshman defenders in the Big Ten, earning All-Big Ten Freshman Team honors by year's end. Additionally, Hovington added an assist in a win over Bucknell and gathered an All-Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week award.
Up front, Hayes added to the Nittany Lion attack with five goals and an assist for 11 points, while playing all 21 games. The speedy forward logged over 1,200 minutes of game time posting 35 shots with 13 starts.
Penn State women's soccer has seen six of its own train with various U.S. Women's National teams this month. The beginning of January had alums Katie Schoepfer and Alyssa Naeher with the U-23 team in Carson, Calif. Former PSU All-American Joanna Lohman joined Naeher on the senior team for a camp that will wrap up on Saturday. Sophomore Christine Nairn (Arnold, Md.) also was tabbed for a U-23 callup. Ali Krieger was given a pass on the recent U.S. camp for her obligations with her club outfit FFC Frankfurt, but she is expected to be apart of the U.S. team in the lead up to the 2011 World Cup in Germany.
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--NITTANY LIONS--