The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Logterman named to U.S. U-20 National Team for 2006 FIFA World Championship
06.09.2006 | Soccer
CHICAGO -- University of Texas sophomore defender Stephanie Logterman was named to the U.S. Under-20 Women's National Team for the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship by U.S. Under-20 head coach Tim Schultz on Friday, June 9.
Logterman (Austin, Texas) is one of 21 players included on the 2006 U.S. Under-20 roster that will be competing at the FIFA World Championships in Russia from Aug. 17-Sept. 3. The Austin, Texas, native and 2005 second-team All-Big 12 performer started 20 of Texas' 21 games in 2005 and not only helped the Horns collect 11 wins while posting a pair of assists, but also aided the UT defense in tallying seven shutouts.
Schulz's team has played about 50 matches since January as he has whittled his team down to the 21 players who will participate in the 3rd FIFA World Championship for youth women. Schulz evaluated 47 players in game action with the U-20s over the course of this year before finalizing the roster.
The tournament in Russia marks the first time the competition will be played as an Under-20 event. The USA won the first-ever FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship in 2002 in Canada and finished third at the 2004 U-19 Tournament in Thailand. For the 2006 tournament, the USA was drawn into Group D and will face first-time World Championship participant DR Congo, as well as Argentina and France in first round play. The 2006 FIFA World Championship will be contested with 16 teams: host Russia, Australia, China and North Korea from Asia, Nigeria and DR Congo from Africa, the USA, Mexico and Canada from CONCACAF, Brazil and Argentina from South America, France, Switzerland, Germany and Finland from Europe and New Zealand from Oceania. The event will take place at four stadiums in Moscow (Dynamo, Lokomotiv, Shchelkovo and Torpedo) and at one in St. Petersburg (Petrovsky).
Players must be born on or after January 1, 1986, to be eligible for this year's U-20 World Championship. Seventeen of the 21 players named to the 2006 roster will be entering their sophomore or junior years of college eligibility in the fall, while the remaining four student-athletes will be entering college as freshmen in the fall of this year. Notably, the USA will likely be one of the younger teams in Russia. Additionally, the 2006 roster features six players from California, two from Colorado, two from Ohio, two from New York, two from New Jersey, and one each from the states of Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Texas, Georgia, Maryland and Wisconsin.
Schulz named the 2006 roster two months before the tournament in order to give the team time to gel. So far in 2006, the U.S. team has had nine events and will have four more camps/events before the world championship, with a training camp at the Home Depot Center up next from June 11-18.