Soccer's Nikki Marshall In England With US U-20 National Team
CARSON, Calif. (May 7, 2007) - The U.S. Under-20 Women's National Team and CU rising sophomore Nikki Marshall are headed to Manchester, England for three matches against top English women's clubs.
This marks Marshall's fourth time with a U.S. Soccer team this spring as she did a training camp with the U-21 side before joining the U-20 team for another two camps in the spring. The Big 12's leading scorer a year ago with a school record 17 goals, Marshall is playing defender for the US team. She wrapped up her final exams earlier this month for this opportunity to compete on the international stage.
The U-20s will play Everton Ladies on May 8, the Leeds Ladies on May 10 and the Blackburn Ladies on May 12. Leeds and Blackburn may be without some National Team players as England plays Northern Ireland in a European Championship qualifier on May 12 and has a friendly on May 17. Everton, however, could have as many as nine National Team players in its side for the first match of the tour.
Head Coach Jillian Ellis, who was born and grew up in England before coming to the USA at the age of 15, continues to form a pool of players that will look to qualify the USA for the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup that will be held at the end of next year in Chile. Qualifying is tentatively set for the second quarter of 2008. Ellis, who will take 18 players to England, still has one spot to fill on the roster.
Players born on or after January 1, 1988, are age-eligible for the next U-20 Women's World Cup. Most of the players on the roster were born in 1988, with several in 1989 and one in 1990.
U.S. U-20 WNT Schedule
Date Opponent Venue
May 8 Everton Ladies Netherton
May 10 Leeds Ladies Harrogate
May 12 Blackburn Ladies Clitheroe FC
Update from Nikki sent to CUBuffs.com from her parents on Monday, May 7: "So far we have just been training here at camp. We trained once the day we arrived, Saturday and also once on Sunday. Today we trained early this morning. We are all pretty sore so Jill decided to take it easy on us and we did not train this afternoon.
"Off the field we have not really done anything, there is a small shopping center up the hill that we hope to visit midweek and we are going to see Spiderman 3 tonight. Our hotel is absolutely amazing, it is possibly the most awesome thing I have ever seen. It is literally built into the stadium for a club team called Bolton, here in Manchester. Unfortunately we will not get to see them play but the field/stadium/hotel is great. (I took some pictures that I'll share with all the Buff fans when I get back).
"Sorry to keep this update so short, but the internet isn't free over here so I have to keep it brief. We play our first game tomorrow (May 8) against the Everton Ladies, so wish us luck."