I am wondering what kind of line up the women are going to have next week. Does anyone have any info on that? I am wondering how many of the "big names" will be playing.......I know Mia Hamm is injured.....I am really hoping for a "big name" line up here...and not just college talent. The "big names" are the big draw.....I realize they always play 'CYA' with "scheduled to appear" by players names...but.......
Any info would be appreciated.......
See ya there! :p

The women will actually be in Charleston for a week of training. Here's the 24 that were invited to camp. These will be cut to 18 for the Mexico match then those 18 will be heading to China for a another set of matches with 4 of the best women's teams in the world; China, Norway, Germany and the USA. And then after that, qualifying begins for the 2003 Women's World Cup. So this training camp & friendly are important and not just a publicity tour. These ladies will be wanting to show they belong in the starting 11. I suspect you'll see the veterans and the strongest subs and Mexico should give them a good workout.

U.S. national team training camp roster

Name, position, school, club

Jaime Pagliarulo, Gk, George Mason, San Diego
Lorrie Fair, M, North Carolina, Philadelphia
Thori Bryan, D, NC State, San Jose
Reddick, Catherine, D, North Carolina
Boxx, Shannon, M, Notre Dame, San Diego
Chastain, Brandi, D, Santa Clara, San Jose
Kluegel, Jena, D, North Carolina
MacMillan, Shannon, F, Portland, San Diego
Hamm, Mia, F, North Carolina, Washington **
Wagner, Aly, M, Santa Clara
Foudy, Julie, M, Stanford, San Diego
Parlow, Cindy, F, North Carolina, Atlanta
Lilly, Kristine, M, North Carolina, Boston
Fawcett, Joy, D, UCB, San Diego
Sobrero, Kate, D, Notre Dame, Boston
Milbrett, Tiffeny, F, Portland, New York
Cramer, Aleisha, M, BYU
Solo, Hope, Gk, Washington
Slaton, Danielle, D, Santa Clara
Fotopolous, Danielle, F, Florida, Carolina
Bivens, Kylie, D, Santa Clara, Atlanta
Wambach, Abby, F, Florida
Augustyniak, Nancy, D, Clemson, Atlanta
Beene, LaKeysia, Gk, Notre Dame, San Jose

** Mia Hamm replaced by Christie Welsh, the 2001 Hermann Trophy and Missouri Athletic Club award winner. Welsh, a powerful 5-foot-10 striker, was the consensus college player of the year this past season after scoring 25 goals with 18 assists for Penn State University and was named an NSCAA First-Team All-American. She was also named the NSCAA Player of the Year and the Big-10 Player of the Year.

The USSF has all kinds of articles on the ladies and their time in Chucktown.

http://www.ussoccer.com/home/default.sps

This is really good PR for the city of Charleston and the Battery. Let's hope no more freak snow storms are lurking.

[ 01-05-2002: Message edited by: JBG - Bribe Taker ]

The baud really rocked on Saturday night. Too bad the rain spoiled things a bit. We had to sit under the stands and drink beer! The beer man was happy he did not have too walk far! I hope we can get half of that enthusiasm out there for a battery game.

Yes, the atmosphere in the 1st half was great, until the rain started. I hope that's not the lasting memory 1st time visitors took back with them. However, I've spent some time on "that other" soccer forum and all of the comments about Blackbaud were complimentary. So, hopefully, USSF was impressed enough and will decide to come back. I think the ladies enjoyed the city of Charleston, shopping, sightseeing, etc.

One observation that surprised me a little was that the media portrays the fans of the US Women's team as generally being young girls. I think this does the team a disservice, like it's a kiddie team. While young girls certainly were there Saturday night, men, young men and boys were there as well. I thought the crowd was a pretty normal mix.

And finally, I got around to watching the tape of the match Sunday night and was disappointed that the ESPN crew/broadcast didn't showcase our stadium more. Other than a couple of comments from Rob Stone stating that the pub was waiting for him, there was really nothing said at all. I thought as a minimum they should have commented on how well the ground was draining even in the midst of a monsoon. After 45 minutes of blinding rain, there was no standing water anywhere. That's pretty amazing.