Canada U-20 WNT begins preparations for Panama

January 30, 2012

Canada's women's U-20 team will begin its preparations this February for the upcoming 2012 CONCACAF Women's Under-20 Championship in Ciudad Panama, Panama. The team will hold an extended camp in San José, Costa Rica starting this 13 February, with the team heading to Panama two weeks later on 27 February. The camp will be led by newly-appointed U-20 coach Andrew Olivieri.

"It will be exciting to see the future of our women's program as we work towards the Women's Under-20 World Cup Qualification," said coach Olivieri. "This is the type of highly competitive environment our players must perform in if they wish to earn regular caps for our senior women's team".

Coach Olivieri called 22 players from schools and teams in Canada and USA for the 14-day pre-tournament camp. The final 20-player roster must be submitted 48 hours before Canada's opening match on 1 March. The eight-team CONCACAF Women's Under-20 Championship will qualify three teams to the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. Both U-20 tournaments will feature players born 1992 or later.

While this will be coach Olivieri's first turn with the 1992 players, all of them have previous experience at the national youth level. Nine of those 22 players even have experience in a national "A" camp, including 2011 Canadian U-20 Player of the Year Amélia Pietrangelo. Also of note, five players participated in the last CONCACAF Women's Under-20 Championship in January 2010 while five others were champions at the Women's Under-17 Championship in March 2010.

As part of the championship preparations, Canada will face Costa Rica's "B" side as well as club champions Arsenal Coronado. (Costa Rica did not qualify for this year's Under-20 competition). Canada has chosen Costa Rica as the base for its camp to simulate similar conditions that can be expected in Panama.

The 2012 CONCACAF Women's Under-20 Championship runs 1-11 March in Ciudad Panama and La Chorrera, Panama. Canada's three group opponents are Haiti on 1 March, Jamaica on 3 March and Mexico on 5 March. The semi-final matches are scheduled for 9 March while the championship final is scheduled for 11 March. Since 2004, Canada has won two CONCACAF Women's Under-20 Championships (2004 and 2008).

CANADA
GK- Rachelle Beanlands | USA / University of Maryland
GK- Dayle Colpitts | USA / Virginia Tech
GK- Sabrina D'Angelo | USA / University of South Carolina
D- Christine Exeter | USA / University of Louisville
D- Lauren Granberg | USA / Ohio State University
D- Nicole Hill | USA / University of Georgia
D- Vanessa Legault-Cordisco | USA / Marquette University
D- Rachel Melhado | USA / University of Louisville
D- Nicole Setterlund | USA / Washington State University
D- Shelina Zadorsky | USA / University of Michigan
M- Catherine Charron-Delage | CAN / Comètes de Laval
M- Olivia Colosimo | USA / Butler University
M- Kylie Davis | USA / University of Memphis
M- Constance de Chantal-Dumont | CAN / Champlain College Saint-Lambert
M- Jaclyn Sawicki | CAN / University of Victoria
M- Diamond Simpson | CAN / Hamilton FC
M- Erin Uchacz | USA / Oregon State
M- Danica Wu | USA / Ohio State
F- Nkem Ezurike | USA / University of Michigan
F- Christabel Oduro | USA / University of Memphis
F- Amélia Pietrangelo | USA / Rutgers University
F- Jenna Richardson | USA / Oregon State University