CHICAGO (July 26, 2024) – U.S. Under-15 Women’s Youth National Team head coach Ciara Crinion has named the 18 players who will represent the USA at the 2024 Concacaf Girls’ Under-15 Championship in Costa Rica.
This year marks the fifth Concacaf tournament for this age group and the competition will be held Aug. 5-11 in Alajuela, Costa Rica. This is the first Concacaf U-15 Girls’ Championship in which the USA will participate that is being held outside the USA. The U.S. has won all three Concacaf Girls’ U-15 Championships in which it has played, all on U.S. soil, lifting the trophy in 2016, 2018 and 2022.
Drawn into Group A of League A, the USA will open the tournament against Jamaica on Monday, Aug. 5 (11 a.m. local time / 1 p.m. ET), face host Costa Rica on Tuesday, Aug. 6 (9 a.m. local time / 11 a.m. ET) and wrap up the group stage vs. Haiti on Thursday, Aug. 8 (11 a.m. local time / 1 p.m. ET). All matches of the 2024 Concacaf Girls U-15 Championship will be streamed through the Concacaf YouTube platform and Concacaf Go.
Group B features Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico and El Salvador. The top two finishers in each group cross over for the semifinals on Aug. 9, with those winners meeting on Aug. 11 for the championship.
Players born on or after Jan. 1, 2009, are age-eligible for the tournament. Crinion has selected 16 players born in 2009, one born in 2010 (forward Mak Whitham) and one in 2011 (midfielder Loradana Paletta).
GOALKEEPERS (2): Anne Fowler (Chicago FC United; Northfield, Ill.), Ella McNeal (St. Louis Scott Gallagher; Manchester, Mo.)
DEFENDERS (6): Meila Brewer (Kansas City Athletics; Overland Park, Kan.), Alexandra Han (Solar SC; Dallas, Texas), Bristol Kersh (TopHat SC; Flowery Branch, Ga.), Chloe Miller (Mountain View Los Altos SC; Monte Sereno, Calif.), Taylor Morrell (Virginia Development Academy; Leesburg, Va.), Elena Vera (Davis Legacy SC; Fairfield, Calif.)
MIDFIELDERS (5): Kendall Conway (Lamorinda SC; Sonoma, Calif.), Mia Corona (Legends FC; Cypress, Calif.), Loradana Paletta (New York City FC; Syosset, N.Y.), Deus Stanislaus (Player Development Academy; Fort Washington, Pa.), Caroline Swann (D'Feeters Kicks SC; Dallas, Texas)
FORWARDS (5): Maddie DiMaria (St. Louis Scott Gallagher; Fenton, Mo.), Amari Manning (Players Development Academy; Flemington, N.J.), KK Ream (Utah Avalanche; Herriman, Utah), Carolina Reyna (Sting Austin; Austin, Texas), Mak Whitham (Slammers FC HB Koge; Granite Bay, Calif.)
Before the competition kicks off on Aug. 5, the U-15s will train together in Carson, Calif. from July 28-31. Four players will join the team for that pre-tournament training camp: goalkeeper Layla Tucakovic(FC Bay Area Surf; San Jose, Calif.), midfielders Anaiah Williams (Eclipse Select SC; Glendale Heights, Ill.) and Daphne Van der Weide (Virginia Development Academy; Vienna, Va.) and forward Giselle Aguilar (Solar SC; Cleburne, Texas).
The U-15 WYNT has held two training camps this year so far, one in San Diego and a trip to Europe that featured a 4-0 win over Germany and a 2-0 win over the Netherlands.
The 2024 Concacaf Girls’ U-15 Championship will be the largest ever, featuring 36 Concacaf nations divided into League A (eight teams competing in Costa Rica), League B (16 teams competing in Trinidad & Tobago) and League C (12 teams competing in Aruba).
The 2020 Concacaf Girls’ U-15 Championship was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2018, the tournament mostly featured 2003-birth year players, but the USA brought a younger team composed of players born in 2004 and 2005. Despite the younger squad, the U.S. won its second-straight U-15 Championship with a 3-0 victory over Mexico in the final. Midfielder Olivia Moultrie as well as forwards Jaedyn Shaw and Alyssa Thompson were all a part of the USA’s title-winning run in 2018, played in the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup and are now full National Team pool players.
At the 2022 Concacaf U-15 Concacaf Champions, played in Tampa, Fla., the USA roared through the tournament, scoring 34 goals in group play in wins over Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Canda, then downed the Dominican Republic in the semifinal, 6-0. In a rematch with Canada in the final, the USA prevailed 4-1.
That team featured three current NWSL players in Kimmi Ascanio (San Diego Wave), Alex Pfeiffer (Kansas City Current) and Kennedy Fuller (Angel City FC). Fuller won Golden Ball as tournament’s best player after scoring nine total goals. The roster for that tournament also featured nine players currently in the running for the 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup Team.