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Six Spirit Players Called to U.S. Women's National Team Camp

August 19, 2003 - Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)
San Diego Spirit News Release


SAN DIEGO (August 19, 2003) -- U.S. Women's National Team head coach April Heinrichs has named 23 players who will begin training at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in San Diego, Calif., on Aug. 21 as the Americans begin the final preparations before the FIFA Women's World Cup 2003. The USA opens its tournament on Sept. 21 vs. Sweden at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. The USA will train on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at the OTC.

Among those 23 are six players from the San Diego Spirit, including both goalkeepers on the roster, Jaime Pagliarulo and Jenni Branam. Also on the roster are midfielders Julie Foudy and Aly Wagner, defender Joy Fawcett and forward Shannon MacMillan, who continues her accelerated rehabilitation from ACL surgery on May 21.

Branam, who had a stellar second half of the WUSA season and emerged as one of the league's top goalkeepers, was an alternate on the 2000 Olympic Team, and has five caps for the USA, but has not been in with the national team for more than two years.

Six players, including three from the Washington Freedom (Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach and Siri Mullinix) and three from the Atlanta Beat (Kylie Bivens, Briana Scurry and Cindy Parlow), who would have been called in for training in San Diego will instead be with their WUSA teams who are competing in the Founders Cup Championship game on Aug. 24 at Torero Stadium in San Diego.

The USA will train from Aug. 21-24 in San Diego, then have four days off before regrouping in Los Angeles for training at the U.S. Soccer National Training Center in Carson, Calif., from Aug. 29-Sep. 3. The team will then travel to San Jose, Calif., where the U.S. will be based from Sept. 4-7. That schedule includes two matches, the first against Costa Rica on Sept. 1 at the Home Depot Center (8 p.m. PT on ESPN2) in the first-ever game for a U.S. National Team at the sparkling new stadium and the second on Sept. 7 against Mexico at Spartan Stadium (10 a.m. PT on ESPN).

Discount tickets for groups of 20 or more and individual tickets are available for both send off matches. USA-Costa Rica group tickets priced from $20 to $55 are available by calling 1-877-3GALAXY. Single tickets range from $25 to $65 and are available at all Ticketmaster outlets and online at ticketmaster.com. USA-Mexico group tickets are $15 and $25, a savings of $5 per ticket with no per-ticket convenience charge, and can be ordered by calling 408-985- 4625. Individual tickets, priced from $20 to $50, are available through Ticketmaster.

Besides MacMillan, the roster includes another player coming off a major injury in forward Heather O'Reilly. The 18-year-old is recovering from a broken fibula and stretched ligament in her ankle suffered against Ireland on June 14, got out of her protective boot last week and began doing light running and ball work.

Heinrichs has yet not announced the date she will name the 2003 Women's World Cup Team.



Women's United Soccer Association Stories from August 19, 2003


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