The women’s soccer team has been on a roll of late — the Cardinal has won its last seven matches and exploded for seven goals in last weekend’s rout of Arizona — and USA Soccer has taken notice.
It was announced Wednesday that three current members of the team have been called into the U.S. Under-23 women’s national team camp next week, the first step to making the roster for the 2012 Olympic team that will compete in London next summer.
Senior defender Camille Levin, senior forward Lindsay Taylor and sophomore goalie Emily Oliver will all make the trip to Carson, Calif. and the Home Depot Center to train under the eye of national team coach Pia Sundhage, U.S. Soccer Women’s Development Director Jill Ellis and U.S. Soccer Women’s Technical Director April Heinrichs from Oct. 2-7.
While the invite from the U.S. national team is an exciting opportunity for the selected Stanford players, the camp conflicts with the Cardinal’s schedule at a very inopportune time. Levin, Oliver and Taylor will all fly from Seattle to the Home Depot Center after Stanford’s match at Washington on Sunday afternoon, and are expected to return to Stanford on Thursday in time for two critical matchups Friday, Oct. 7 against USC, and Sunday, Oct. 9 against No. 3 UCLA.
“It’s not a good thing because it hurts our preparations,” Stanford coach Paul Ratcliffe said. “But, ultimately, it’s great for those players to get the opportunity to play with the full national team.”
Twenty-four players will attend the camp, including 16 college players, six Women’s Professional Soccer players and two club players. Stanford is sending the most current players, with North Carolina and Wake Forest each contributing two athletes to the mix.
Joining them will be former Cardinal forward Christen Press ’11, who holds several of Stanford’s career scoring records and was recently named the Women’s Professional Soccer Rookie of the Year after scoring eight goals for the Florida magicJack.
The Olympic qualifying tournament begins in Vancouver, with final roster cuts not expected until a few weeks before qualifying begins.
—Miles Bennett-Smith