Klimkova names 2018 U20 Women’s World Cup roster

United States U-20 head coach Jitka Klimkova named her 21-player roster for the 2018 U-20 Women’s World Cup.

GOALKEEPERS (3): Hillary Beall (Michigan; Laguna Beach, Calif.; 0/0), Laurel Ivory (Virginia; Surfside, Fla.; 12/0), Amanda McGlynn (Virginia Tech; Jacksonville, Fla.; 10/0)

DEFENDERS (7): Emily Fox (UNC; Chapel Hill, N.C., 32/3), Naomi Girma (California Thorns FC; San Jose, Calif.; 17/0), Samantha Hiatt (Stanford; Newcastle, Wash.; 11/1), Tara McKeown (USC; Newbury Park, Calif.; 22/0), Zoe Morse (Virginia; East Lansing, Mich.; 19/0), Kiara Pickett (Stanford; Santa Barbara, Calif.; 16/0), Isabel Rodriguez (Ohio State; Canton, Mich.; 19/0)

MIDFIELDERS (5): Savannah DeMelo (USC; Bellflower, Calif.; 36/5), Jaelin Howell (Real Colorado; Windsor, Colo.; 26/2), Brianna Pinto (NTH Tophat; Durham, N.C.; 22/3), Taryn Torres (Virginia; Frisco, Texas; 12/2), Viviana Villacorta (UCLA; Lawndale, Calif.; 23/1)

FORWARDS (6): Erin Gilroy (Tennessee; Bellmore, N.Y.; 4/2), Penelope Hocking (So Cal Blues; Anaheim, Calif.; 9/3), Abigail Kim (California; Vashon, Wash.; 24/6), Ashley Sanchez (UCLA; Monrovia, Calif.; 33/11), Alexa Spaanstra (Virginia; Brighton, Mich.; 3/0), Sophia Smith (Real Colorado; Windsor, Colo.; 25/21)

Joining the team after not being named to the qualifying roster are Beall, Fox, Hiatt, Gilroy, Hocking, and Spaanstra. Not returning to the roster from qualifying are Tierna Davidson, Karina Rodriguez, Samantha Coffey, Civana Kuhlmann, and Kelsey Turnbow.

Probably the most notable of the non-returning names, Tierna Davidson, has been getting regular time in the full senior team and will probably be sticking with them through Tournament of Nations, which runs July 26 - August 2.

“We play an attacking, creative and aggressive style of soccer that is fun for the players, and I feel we’ve made huge improvement since the Concacaf qualifiers,” said Klimkova via US Soccer press release. “We all agreed that the performance in Trinidad wasn’t our best, but since then we’ve made progress every time we are together.” The U-20’s most recent result was a 1-0 win against France on March 3.

Japan and Spain could make for a tough group stage for the United States, here looking for a little redemption after getting knocked out in semifinals in 2016 by North Korea.

The U20 WWC takes place in France from August 5 - 24. Find the complete match schedule here.

USA vs Japan
August 6, 1:30 PM ET
Concarneau, France
FS2

USA vs Paraguay
August 9, 1:30 PM ET
Concarneau, France
FS2

USA vs Spain
August 13, 7:30 AM ET
Dinan-Léhon, France
FS2