Printer-Friendly Format     E-mail this article     Notre Dame sophomore defender/midfielder Lauren Fowlkes has been named to the 2008 U.S. Under-20 Women's National Team, it was announced this past weekend by USA head coach Tony DiCicco.

 
Notre Dame Women's Soccer Summer Notebook #1

Numerous Irish players competing in international tournaments; Fowlkes earns berth on USA U-20 squad.

June 16, 2008

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Notre Dame sophomore defender/midfielder Lauren Fowlkes (Lee's Summit, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy) has been named to the United States Under-20 Women's National Team, it was announced this past weekend by USA head coach Tony DiCicco. Fowlkes is one of 20 players who have been chosen to wear the Stars & Stripes in the CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship, to be held June 18-28 in Puebla, Mexico.

The Team USA selections were made following a week of intensive training in Park City, Utah, where the altitude (approximately 7,000 feet) simulates some of the conditions the team will face in Mexico. The U.S. has been placed in Group A for the eight-team CONCACAF U-20 tournament and will kick off round-robin group play Wednesday at 1 p.m. (CT) against Trinidad & Tobago. The Americans then will face Cuba on Friday at 1 p.m. (CT) before closing out the group stage at 2:30 p.m. (CT) Sunday against host Mexico.

The top two finishers in each of the two groups will advance to the tournament semifinals, which will feature crossover play (A1 vs. B2, A2 vs. B1) on June 25. The four Group B teams in the tournament are: Canada, Costa Rica, Jamaica and Nicaragua. The third-place match and championship contest are slated to take place June 28, with the top three finishers qualifying for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, which will be held Nov. 19-Dec. 7 in Chile.

Fowlkes was one of 26 players originally invited to the USA U-20 Women's National Team training camp back in mid-January at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. The team played in a pair of international competitions since then, winning the Four Nations Tournament in February and finishing second at the Cyprus Women's Cup in March. Fowlkes appeared in all seven international matches during that time, making five starts on the U.S. back line. She will be playing with her second U.S. Women's National Team, having also been a part of the 2005 U-17 squad.

As a freshman at Notre Dame last season, Fowlkes started all 26 matches, scoring a pair of goals and adding an assist in a team-high 2,324 minutes. She also proved her value on the offensive end during the spring 2008 season, when she scored the game-winning goal in a 2-1 exhibition victory over Mexico at Alumni Field.

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Notre Dame Women's Soccer Well-Represented At Peace Queen Cup
Four former Irish greats competing in tune-up competition before Summer OIympics in Beijing.

Former Irish greats Kate (Sobrero) Markgraf (left) and Shannon Boxx (right) are in the U.S. starting lineup for this week's Peace Queen Cup in South Korea.

NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- With less than two months to go before the 2008 Summer Olympics kick off in Beijing, China, the U.S. Women's Soccer National Team is busy preparing for the rigors of Olympic competition by taking part in the Peace Queen Cup, which began this past weekend in Suwon, South Korea. Notre Dame is well-represented at the event, with two players on the Team USA roster, and another two on the Team Canada roster.

Former Irish midfielder Shannon Boxx ('99) and defender Kate (Sobrero) Markgraf ('98) have been mainstays in the U.S. starting lineup for several years, and that continues at the Peace Queen Cup, with Markgraf earning the Sierra Mist Woman of the Match honor in the Americans' 2-1 Group B win over Australia on Sunday. The Stars & Stripes will take on Brazil on Tuesday (2 p.m. local time/1 a.m. ET) in the two sides' first matchup since the South Americans defeated Team USA, 4-0 in the semifinals of the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. The U.S. wraps up group play against Italy on Thursday at 5 p.m. local time (4 a.m. ET).

Over in Group A, former Notre Dame defenders/forwards Candace Chapman ('04) and Melissa Tancredi ('03) helped Canada open the tournament in impressive fashion with wins over Argentina (5-0) and South Korea (3-1). Both Irish alums have started the first two matches for their homeland, with Tancredi potting a second-half goal in the win over Argentina.

Canada is virtually assured of a berth in the tournament championship match, needing just a tie in its final group-play contest against New Zealand (Wednesday, 1 a.m. ET) to make it official. The United States can put itself in a similar position to make the Peace Queen Cup final if it knocks off Brazil. The title match is scheduled for Saturday at 1 a.m. (ET) at Suwon World Cup Stadium.

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Trio Of Notre Dame Women's Soccer Players Complete Residency With USA U-23 Team
Two current players, one former standout contending for place on U.S. squad headed to next month's Nordic Cup.

NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- Three members of the Notre Dame women's soccer program -- two current players and one former great -- recently completed a week-long residency camp with the United States Under-23 Women's National Team at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. Current senior forward Kerri Hanks (Allen, Texas/Allen) and senior defender Elise Weber (Elk Grove, Ill./St. Viator Academy) joined recently-graduated Irish midfielder Jen Buczkowski (`07) for the 24-player training session from June 5-12 that will help determine the final 18 players for the U.S. U-23 squad that will compete in the annual Nordic Cup July 15-21 in Sweden. No school had more players represented at the U-23 residency camp than Notre Dame.

Senior forward Kerri Hanks is one of three players with Notre Dame ties who took part in a residency camp for the USA U-23 Women's National Team from June 5-12 in Carson, Calif. A total of seven current or former Irish players are in the U-23 player pool, with the final USA roster for next month's Nordic Cup set to be announced shortly.

Hanks is no stranger to U.S. Soccer, having been a member of the old U-21 program that is currently transitioning to U-23 status. She also is one of the top scorers in the history of the United States U-19 National Team, having scored 22 goals in 30 matches from 2002-04, capped by a third-place finish in the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship in Thailand (Hanks delayed her enrollment at Notre Dame to the spring of 2005 in order to train and compete with Team USA in that event).

Buczkowski, who was Notre Dame's volunteer assistant coach last year, was two-year starting defender for the United States U-19 National Team, but unlike Hanks, she bypassed the chance to compete in the '04 U-19 World Championships in favor of playing for the Irish (who went on to win their second NCAA national title that fall). She also has international experience with the USA U-16 National Team, dating back to 2001.

Weber is aiming for her first roster spot with a U.S. Soccer team, although she was named to the USASA Under-23 National Select Team in 2007.

Four other players with Notre Dame ties remain in the U-23 player pool, but did not take part in last week's training camp. Former Irish forward Amanda Cinalli ('08), who will be Notre Dame's volunteer assistant this fall, and three current players -- senior midfielder/forward Brittany Bock (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley), senior defender Carrie Dew (Encinitas, Calif./La Costa Canyon) and junior forward Michele Weissenhofer (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) -- all remain eligible for a spot on the U.S. U-23 roster.

Cinalli scored the lone goal in a 1-0 win over the German U-23 Women's National Team on May 22 before more than 5,000 fans in Wangen, Germany. Hanks and Weber also saw action during that match, which was the second of two wins during a training trip to Germany. Previously, Dew, Hanks and Weissenhofer were on the American roster for a three-match road trip to La Manga, Spain, in mid-February, a junket that saw the USA finish with a 1-1-1 record.

United States U-23 Women's National Team head coach Bill Irwin is expected to make his final roster selections later this month. The Americans will play a friendly against Nordic Cup host Sweden on July 13 before opening tournament play two days later against Switzerland. The U.S. also will face England (July 17) and Norway (July 19) in group play during the week-long Scandanavian tournament, with the title match slated for July 21 between the winners of the two groups (Finland, Germany, Scotland and Sweden make up the other foursome). The USA has won seven of the past nine championships at the Nordic Cup, which pits the Stars & Stripes against Europe's top teams.

-- ND --

NOTE: For more information on all Notre Dame athletes involved with United States Women's National Teams, visit the U.S. Soccer web site at www.ussoccer.com.