It hasn’t been all camps for the U17s. In addition to the two England friendlies last month, they have played five other games so far, three of them in an international tournament.
Who got playing time? And who scored?
A total of 34 players have gotten at least some time in the seven games, of the 52 players seen in camps this year.
GP = Games Played; Mins = Total minutes in those games. The columns on the right are the minutes played in each game; the opponent, result, and date in the header.
Of the six “camps” the U17s have had so far this year, three were very significant: during each of these camps, the team played other U17s teams in international games. The first camp, in Carson, CA in January, the German U17s visited and the two teams played twice. In April, the US went to a tournament in Costa Rica and played three games against different opponents. And in August, the US went to England and played the England U17s twice.
First, it must be said that the US has struggled against good opponents. They played Germany twice and drew both times, and played Japan once in the final of the 4-Nation Tournament in Costa Rica, where they lost 4-1. The team’s only loss this year, true, but a humbling one. The Germany games were, of course, the first of the year, and therefore the first of the cycle (and, in fact, the first international games any of them had played). Even the loss to Japan can be mitigated: while the US never led, it was a 2-1 game until the final minutes, when the US pressed the attack to such an extent that the defense was exposed and gave up the last two goals. But a loss is a loss, and it remains to be seen if any lessons have been learned from it.
The U17 Core
There is a clear core of 13 players who have played 5 or more of the 7 games. Of those, just 5 players have played in all 7 games. While it’s not surprising that 4 of the 5 have also been in all 6 U17s camps, it is interesting that 3 of them are midfielders, and the fourth is a forward. The only defender to play in all 7, Tegan McGrady – who missed two camps this summer – leads the team with minutes played: 463. Even she has only played two full games. That makes for a very inconsistent defense (perhaps relevant in the loss to Japan).
In addition to those 5 leading players, there is one – defender Alana Cook – who has played in 6 games (she missed the game against Costa Rica), and another 7 players who have played in 5 games. There’s an even mix of positions in that group – 2 defenders, 2 midfielders, and 3 forwards – but what really interesting is that three of them were late arrivals with the U17s. Dorian Bailey has been in YNT camps since 2010 (U14s then and 2011, and U15s in 2012), but was not called into the initial U17 camp in January, so she missed the Germany games. Mallory Pugh and Madison Haley both were with the U15 team this year before making the team for the Costa Rica trip; they had never been with the U17 team before that trip, yet have both played every game since, and are now the team’s leading scorers. Finally, defender Natalie Jacobs was in the January camp but never saw time in either game then. She has, however, played every game since then.
Very few players have played multiple full games: just one, defender Ellie Jean, went the full 90 minutes in 4 games, while three others have played 3 full games: Mia Gyau, Alana Cook, and Dorian Bailey. Which suggests plenty of substitutions, and in fact head coach B.J. Snow has averaged more than 6 subs per game. In the loss to Japan, he only used 5 subs, and at other times used as many as 8. He seems to know which players he wants, but he’s still figuring out when he wants them and in which combination, it seems.
Who’s Scoring?
Mallory Pugh leads the team on goals scored with 6. She has, in fact, scored in every game she’s played in, including getting the lone US goal in that loss to Japan. She missed the first two games because she had not yet been called into the U17s yet; she would come into a February U15 camp before being called up with the older team. And she’s tied with Natalie Jacobs for assists, with 2, behind just Tegan McGrady who has 3 (but no goals of her own).
The team’s second leading scorer, Madison Haley (4 goals and 1 assist), also started the year with the U15s. Either the current U17s just lack goalscorers, or these two really stand out. It should be noted that both Pugh and Haley, while young, would not be age-eligible to play as U17s in 2016, so they’re not being “stolen” from the next cycle…. Pugh did play with the U15s in 2012, so the real question with her is why she was still with the U15s early this year, instead of making the jump with the rest of the 2012 team. Haley, however, was “discovered” with the U14s last year, so she’s a true call-up.
Nearly as efficient as those two is Michelle Xiao, who was in just one camp (in July) before getting picked for the England trip in August. These were her first call-ups to US YNT programs since 2011, when was in two U14 camps; in the two games in England, she claimed two goals and an assist. Not bad at all.
In all, 10 players have scored a goal or more, and another 6 players have assisted without scoring themselves.
Defensive Line
There are just two defenders who have been with the team for all three campaigns: Tegan McGrady and Alana Cook, and even Cook missed one game of the Costa Rica tournament. She was subbed out of the first half of the game against Japan (two days after the CR game); in the two England games, four months later, she was used as a late-second-half sub only. This after playing the full 90 minutes in the first two games. Ellie Jean played the first five games (and,as mentioned above, played the full 90 in four of them, the only player in the entire group of 34 who can claim that). but missed the England games, despite making the trip. That’s curious.
Goalkeepers
There have been 5 goalkeepers with the team this year, with four of them getting playing time (Brooke Heinsohn is the lone keeper to miss out there). No keeper has been with the team for all three campaigns, but Sabrina Macias comes the closest: the only camp she has missed is the first one in January, and she’s been with the team consistently since; she’s has played in three games, for a total of 226 minutes. Even then, she only played one half on the England trip last month; Lauren Rood split that game with her, and went the full 90 in the other game. Rood is another call-up: she started the year with the U15s, and in fact, had never been in a US YNT camp before then. Kat Hess went the opposite way: U14 camp last year, started with the U17s in January and played 2 full games (one against Germany and another against Mexico in Costa Rica) but has since been dropped back to the U15s; she missed the England trip. The fourth keeper to see time, Samantha Leshnak, played one game against Germany, missed the Costa Rica tournament, came into the two summer camps, but missed the England trip.
The U17 Women’s World Cup squad is 21 players strong, but the CONCACAF qualifying tournament only allows 20; this usually means that 3 keepers go to the WWC, but just 2 to the qualifiers. We can assume Macias is the “number one” keeper, but who the other two are I wouldn’t want to guess. Nor which one would miss the qualifiers.
So, the US has a couple consistent goal-scorers, and has gotten goal production from a fairly large slice of the team, but the defensive and goalkeeper positions have been less consistent. There are two more domestic camps before they have to set about qualifying for the World Cup at the very end of October. Hopefully, something can be settled before then.
[CORRECTION: This post originally misspelled Tegan McGrady’s last name; apologies!]
The Practice Field 