The United States U-19 women's national soccer team is a youth
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
team operated under the auspices of
U.S. Soccer. Its primary role is the development of players in preparation for the senior
women's national team, as well as bridging the development between the two major youth competition levels of the
U-17 and the
U-20.
History
The United States U-19 became active as the primary youth-level national team in 2001 when the
United States Soccer Federation
The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...
decided to change the age limit from the
U-18 to U-19. The move was in preparation for
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
's introduction of the first ever
FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship
The FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup is an international association football tournament, organized by FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), for national teams of women under the age of 20. The tournament is held in even-numbere ...
(which has since changed to U-20). The new U-19 squad won the inaugural
2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship
The 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship was held from 17 August to 1 September. It was the first sanctioned youth tournament for women put together by FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada. FIFA granted the tournament to Canada in March ...
in Canada, where they beat
the hosts on a
golden goal
The golden goal or golden point is a rule used in association football, lacrosse, field hockey, and ice hockey to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the end of normal time. It is a type of sud ...
by captain and future
United States women's national team mainstay
Lindsay Tarpley
Lindsay Ann Tarpley Snow (; born September 22, 1983) is an American professional soccer Striker (association football), forward and midfielder. She is a two-time Football at the Summer Olympics, Olympic gold medalist, winning gold at the 2004 Su ...
. Five other members of that same team would join Tarpley as teammates on the senior international team:
Rachel Buehler
Rachel Marie Buehler Van Hollebeke ( ; ; born August 26, 1985) is an American former soccer player who last played as a defender for the Portland Thorns FC and the United States women's national soccer team. In 2015, Van Hollebeke retired from ...
,
Lori Chalupny,
Heather O'Reilly
Heather Ann O'Reilly (born January 2, 1985) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Irish club Shelbourne of the Women's National League. She played for the United States women's national soccer team (USWNT), w ...
,
Leslie Osborne
Leslie Marie Osborne (born May 27, 1983) is a retired American soccer defensive midfielder who last played for the Chicago Red Stars in the NWSL in 2013. She is a former member of the United States women's national soccer team and previously p ...
and
Angie Woznuk
Angela Beth Woznuk Kerr (; born March 29, 1985) is an American former soccer midfielder who played professionally through October 21, 2014. Her career culminated with Portland Thorns FC of the National Women's Soccer League and she played as ...
. Other notable 2002 team members were
Kelly Wilson, the all-time leading goal scorer in the history of the U-20 team, as well as two-time
Hermann Trophy
The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players.
History
In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and the ...
winner
Kerri Hanks
Kerri Michel Hanks Petersen (; born September 2, 1985) is an American soccer forward who last played for Sky Blue FC of Women's Professional Soccer. She is currently the head coach for the Clay County United Soccer Alliance U18 girls' soccer t ...
, who would go on to become one of the most decorated players in women's collegiate soccer.
In 2004, the U-19 team placed third at the
2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship in Thailand, after having been defeated by
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
in the semifinals. The tournament marked the world championship debut of future
senior national team members
Yael Averbuch
Yael Averbuch West (born Yael Friedman Averbuch; November 3, 1986) is a former American professional soccer player. She was formerly the executive director of the National Women's Soccer League Players Association and is the current general ma ...
,
Stephanie Lopez
Stephanie Renee Cox (; born April 3, 1986) is an American soccer coach and former professional player who played as a defender. She is currently the interim head coach of the Puget Sound Loggers women's soccer team.
As a player, Cox played as a ...
,
Amy Rodriguez
Amy Joy Rodriguez Shilling (; born February 17, 1987) is an American retired professional soccer player who last played as a forward for North Carolina Courage in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She previously played for NWSL teams ...
and
Megan Rapinoe
Megan Anna Rapinoe (; born July 5, 1985) is an American professional Association football, soccer player who plays as a Midfielder#Winger, winger and captains OL Reign of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), as well as the United States ...
. 2004 also saw the first loss to a similar-aged team in the history of the program when the squad lost to
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
The U-19 team became dormant in 2005 when U.S. Soccer raised the age of the squad from U-19 to U-20. The move was, again, in response to FIFA's altering of the competition age from U-19 to U-20. The team subsequently had only periodic competitions until 2019, when the Federation (under general manager
Kate Markgraf
Kathryn Michele Markgraf (; born August 23, 1976) is the General Manager of the United States women's national soccer team and a retired American professional soccer defender. She previously played for the Chicago Red Stars in the WPS, the B ...
) reinstated all youth-level teams in their own right.
Competitive record
FIFA U-19 Women's World Cup
CONCACAF Women's U-19 Championship tournament record
Players
Current squad
The following 20 players were named to the squad for the tournament on February 28–March 9, 2020, in La Manga, Spain.
[ ]
Recent call-ups
The following players were named to a squad in the last 12 months.
Coaches
*
Tracey Leone
Tracey Marie Leone (; born May 5, 1967) is a retired American soccer midfielder who was a member of the United States women's national soccer team. She was the first American to win a world championship as both a player and as a head coach.
In ...
(2001–2004)
*
Mark Krikorian (2004)
*
Jitka Klimková (2015–2017)
* Twila Kaufman (2020–)
References
{{USSoccer
Youth soccer in the United States
Women's national under-19 association football teams
North American national under-19 association football teams
Soc
U19
U19