The United States U-23 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 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 ...

. Its primary role is the development of players in preparation for the full Women's National Team. The team competes in a variety of competitions, including the annual Nordic Cup, which is the top competition for this age group.

History

Beginnings as a U-20 program

The United States U-23 team has been active since 1989, however it was run as a U-20 team from its inception until 1998. Its main goal was to prepare college players for the step up to international soccer. Women had no viable opportunities to enhance their playing abilities, aside from overseas, since the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

lacked a top-level domestic league during this time.

The switch to U-21

In 1998,

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 make the team a U-21 team in order to give women a higher level of play to better prepare them for the full National Team. In accordance with this strategy, the U-21 team frequently rostered "over-aged" players in the U-21 training camps, as well as the Nordic Cup. It remained a U-21 team from 1998 through 2008.

Competing as a U-23 team

2008 saw the change of the USA's oldest youth national team moved to the U-23 level. The move was made by the

in response to age-level changes

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 ...

had made to its oldest women's youth competition, now named

FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup 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 ...

. The age limit was raised from being a U-19 tournament to a U-20 tournament. This change, coupled with a newly introduced U-23 age limit to the Nordic Cup, prompted the USSF to rethink and eventually change the youth development team. The team continues to serve as a stepping-stone for collegiate and post-collegiate players to the United States Women's National Team. Additionally, many U-23 players develop further through the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federati ...

. While many of the post-collegiate players play in this league to develop their game, the U-23's turned focus on college players who are out of season and may not yet be NWSL-eligible.

Players

Current squad

The following players were named to the squad for the 2022 Women's U-23 Three-Nations Tournament. ''

Caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

and goals are current as of June 28, 2022, after match against .''

Recent call-ups

The following players were named to a squad in the last 12 months. * 2022 Thorns Preseason Tournament * Training camp; January 23–28, 2022

Coaches

* Jerry Smith (2001–2002) * Chris Petrucelli (2003–2004) *

Jill Ellis Jillian Anne Ellis (born 6 September 1966) is an English-American soccer coach and executive who is currently the president of San Diego Wave FC. Ellis coached the United States women's national soccer team from 2014 to October 2019 and won two ...

(2005–2006) *

Bill Irwin William Mills Irwin (born April 11, 1950) is an American actor, clown, and comedian. He began as a vaudeville-style stage performer and has been noted for his contribution to the renaissance of American circus during the 1970s. He has made a num ...

(2007–2011) *

Randy Waldrum Randy Marlon Waldrum (born September 25, 1956) is an American former professional soccer player, the current head coach of University of Pittsburgh Panthers women's soccer team and is the current head coach of the Nigeria women's national team ...

(2012–2013) * Steve Swanson (2013–2014) * Janet Rayfield (2015–2016) *

Laura Harvey Laura Harvey (born 15 May 1980) is an English football manager and former player who currently manages OL Reign of the American National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She holds USSF "A" and UEFA "A" coaching licenses. Harvey previously managed ...

(2017) *

B. J. Snow Brian James "B. J." Snow (born January 30, 1977) is an American association football, soccer coach who most recently served as the Scout (sport), director of talent identification for the United States women's national soccer team and the head co ...

(2017–2019) * Matt Potter (2020–2022)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:United States U-23 Women's National Soccer Team Soc Youth soccer in the United States North American women's national under-23 association football teams Women's national under-23 association football teams U23 U23