US Women’s Soccer Team Return To Florida This Weekend!

The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team returns to Florida this weekend as they take on Russia at FAU stadium in Boca Raton. The game is scheduled to kick off at 3.30pm on Saturday 8th February and will be the first time the U.S.A. has faced Russia since 2002.

The U.S.A. started their 2014 schedule with asolid 1-0 victory against Canada in Frisco, Texas, last week. The game against Russia will be the first of a two game series as the two sides will meet  again on Feb. 12 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta with a 7.30pm kick off.

The meeting of the world’s top-ranked U.S. team against 21^st-ranked Russia marks the first match between the countries since a 5-1 victory by the USA on Sept. 29, 2002, in Uniondale, NY. Abby Wambach and Heather O’Reilly are the only players on the current roster who played in that match. The USA heads into the first match against Russia riding a 40-game unbeaten streak since its last loss, a 1-0 defeat to Japan on March 5, 2012, at the Algarve Cup in Portugal. The U.S. record for an unbeaten streak is 51 games, set from Dec. 8, 2004, through Sept. 22, 2007. Over the past 40 games, the U.S. has 34 wins and six ties, scoring 131 goals while allowing 29. The USA is also in the midst of a 78-game home unbeaten streak that includes 68 wins and 10 draws. The last loss for the USA on home soil came on Nov. 6, 2004, a 3-1 setback to Denmark in Philadelphia. It is one of only two losses the USA has suffered when Abby Wambach scores a goal.

The USA’s match at FAU Stadium will be its fourth in the state of Florida in the last 13 months. The three previous games all ended with 4-1 U.S. victories. This four-game stretch in Florida started in Boca Raton during the final game of 2012, a 4-1 victory against China PR at FAU Stadium. The USA also started 2013 in Florida, defeating Scotland 4-1 in Jacksonville and then once again finished the year in the Sunshine State, defeating Brazil 4-1 at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando. The U.S. Women, who trained in the Orlando area for both the 1995 and 1999 Women’s World Cups, as well as the 1996 Olympics, have played quite a few games in Florida – 22, in fact – and is 17-4-1 all-time in this state.

U.S. Women’s National Team By Position Roster – Detailed Roster
GOALKEEPERS (3): 18-Nicole Barnhart (FC Kansas City), 21-Jill Loyden (Sky Blue FC), 1-Hope Solo (Seattle Reign FC)
DEFENDERS (9): 14-Stephanie Cox (Seattle Reign FC), 7-Crystal Dunn (Washington Spirit), 6-Whitney Engen (Tyresö), 11-Ali Krieger (Washington Spirit), 19-Kristie Mewis (Boston Breakers), 5-Kelley O’Hara (Sky Blue FC), 3-Christie Rampone (Sky Blue FC), 4-Becky Sauerbrunn (FC Kansas City), 16-Rachel Van Hollebeke (Portland Thorns FC)
MIDFIELDERS (8): 25-Morgan Brian (Virginia), 12-Lauren Holiday (FC Kansas City), 22-Julie Johnston (Chicago Red Stars), 10-Carli Lloyd (WNY Flash), 28-Samantha Mewis (UCLA), 9-Heather O’Reilly (Boston Breakers), 15-Megan Rapinoe (Seattle Reign FC), 17-Erika Tymrak (FC Kansas City)
FORWARDS (4): 2-Sydney Leroux (Seattle Reign FC), 23-Christen Press (Tyresö), 8-Amy Rodriguez (FC Kansas City), 20-Abby Wambach (WNY Flash)

The roster includes the winner of the 2013 MAC Hermann Trophy as college soccer’s top player. University of Virginia rising senior Morgan Brian took home the trophy in mid-January in St. Louis, edging her U.S. WNT teammate Crystal Dunn (who won in 2012) and UCLA defender Abby Dahlkemper. Brian had a remarkably balanced 16 goals and 14 assists in leading UVA to an undefeated regular season and an NCAA Final Four appearance. She got her first career start for the senior National Team against Canada on July 31 and played well in a 90-minute appearance.

U.S. head coach Tom Sermanni (pictured above) gave rising UCLA senior Samantha Mewis, who helped the Bruins to the NCAA title last fall, her first official call-up to the senior team. The 6-foot-tall Samantha is the younger sister of current U.S. WNT defender Kristie Mewis. The Mewis sisters played together on both the 2008 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Team (New Zealand) and the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Team (Germany), but this is first time they are on a full U.S. Women’s National Team roster together. The younger Mewis trained with the USA at the end of the January camp in Los Angeles. The only previous time that sisters were on a full U.S. Women’s National Team roster came in 1997 and 1998, when identical twins Lorrie (120 career caps) and Ronnie Fair (3 caps) played together. The two matches they played together came in a pair of victories against England on May 9, 1997, in San Jose, Calif., (5-0) and May 11, 1997, in Portland, Ore., (6-0). Lorrie started and Ronnie came on as a sub in both games.

This series of matches also marks the first time that will see defender Rachel Buehler switch to her married name on the back of her jersey. Buehler, who was married in November of 2012, will now go by Rachel Van Hollebeke (pronounced “van HALL-ah-beck”), adding a bit of Belgian flair to the U.S. team.

U.S. WNT forward Abby Wambach (pictured above) finished second in the voting for the 2013 FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year (after winning the award for 2012) and currently has 163 career goals. Wambach passed the legendary Mia Hamm to become the world’s all-time leading scorer on June 20, 2013, when she pounded in four goals against South Korea at Red Bull Arena. Hamm, the 2001 and 2002 FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year, who had 158 career international goals from 1987-2004, will now be forever looking up at Wambach. Wambach scored her 163rd goal against Brazil on Nov. 10, 2013, marking the 104th win for the USA in a game in which Wambach has scored at least one goal (104-2-8). Wambach has scored 38 goals in her past 46 games over 2012, 2013 and 2014. She is also third all-time in assists with 65, behind only Kristine Lilly (105) and Hamm (144).

Of Abby Wambach’s world-record 163 career goals, she has scored the most against Mexico, peppering El Tri with 20 goals in 20 games. Wambach has faced Russia once in her career, that coming in the USA’s most recent game against the Russians in 2002, but she did not score in that game. Sixty-nine of her 163 goals (43 percent) were scored with her head. Her goals have come against 31 different opponents:

Mexico 20
Norway 12
Canada 10
Japan 10
Sweden 10
Ireland 9
China PR 9
Australia 7
Brazil 7
Costa Rica 7
Germany 7
Iceland 6
Denmark 5
Kor. Republic 5
Scotland 4
New Zealand 4
Guatemala 4
Haiti 4
Korea DPR 3
C. Taipei 3
France 3
Jamaica 2
Dom. Rep. 2
Italy 2
Finland 2
England 1
Panama 1
T&T 1
Colombia 1
Nigeria 1
Greece 1

2014 U.S. WNT SCHEDULE:

Fans can watch the matches on ussoccer.com webcast and can also follow on Twitter @ussoccer_wnt.

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