CHICAGO -- Five members of the Penn State women's soccer program have been named to the U.S. U-20 Women's National Team for the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, as announced today by U.S. Soccer.
Rose Chandler, Maddie Elliston, Ellie Jean, Emily Ogle and Kaleigh Riehl make up the Nittany Lion contingent heading to Papua New Guinea with the U.S. U-20 Women's National Team, Nov. 13-Dec. 3. All five are slated to return to Penn State for the spring semester.
Penn State leads the 21-member U.S. U-20 WNT with five representatives.
"The selection of five of our players to the U.S U-20 Women's National Team is a testament to the entire program and the quality of competition these players face on a regular basis," Penn State head coach Erica Dambach said. "We pride ourselves in creating a world class environment for all of our players that challenges them to train and compete at their highest level. Everyone associated with our Penn State soccer family wants to congratulate Ellie, Emily, Kaleigh, Maddie and Rose and we wish them the best of luck at the World Cup."
Penn State women's soccer has been well-represented throughout the 2016 calendar year on the U.S. U-20 WNT as Chandler, Elliston, Ogle and Riehl attended six U.S. U-20 WNT domestic training camps.
The four Nittany Lions attended U.S. U-20 WNT training camps in Carson, California (January), Lakewood Ranch, Florida (April), Efland, North Carolina (June), Chula Vista, California (July), Carson, California (September) and Lakewood Ranch, Florida (October). Jean attended all of the U.S. U-20 WNT domestic training camps except the first one in January.
The Nittany Lion quintet also took part in the La Manga Tournament in La Manga, Spain, in March and traveled to Papua New Guinea for a training camp and a pair of matches, May 21-June 1.
For Chandler and Riehl this will be their second FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup as they were on the U.S. WNT roster in 2014. The duo did not play during the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. Brittany Basinger and Nickolette Driesse were also on the U.S. U-20 WNT roster for the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Canada.
This past December, Chandler was in net for the Red, White and Blue as the U.S. captured its fourth-straight CONCACAF Under-20 Women's Championship with a 1-0 victory over Canada. Chandler closed out the tournament with three-straight shutouts and she received the Golden Glove award. Chandler made appearances in five matches during her redshirt sophomore season in 2015.
Elliston missed the early part of her junior season due to an injury, but started seven of the last 18 matches on the Nittany Lion backline. Elliston played in 11 of the 15 Nittany Lion shutouts in 2015.
In 2015, Jean played in 26 matches as a freshman, which included 21 starts and she dished out six assists. Jean was named to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team and the TopDrawerSoccer Freshman Best XI Second Team.
Ogle started all 27 matches for the Nittany Lions during her sophomore season in 2015 and recorded seven goals, four of which were scored in the NCAA Tournament. During the 2015 season, Ogle received TopDrawerSoccer Third Team Best XI honors, NSCAA All-Great Lakes First Team honors, All-Big Ten Second Team honors, Academic All-Big Ten plaudits and was named to the Women's College Cup All-Tournament Team.
Riehl started every match on the Nittany Lion backline as a freshman in 2015 and recorded the second-most minutes on the team (2,360). During her freshman year, Riehl scored one goal and recorded two assists. Her first goal as a Nittany Lion came in the 79th minute of the College Cup semifinal against No. 9 Rutgers. Riehl was named to the TopDrawerSoccer Freshman Best XI First Team, Women's College Cup All-Tournament Team, All-Big Ten Second Team and the Big Ten All-Freshman Team in 2015.
The U.S. opens the tournament on Monday, Nov. 14, against France, faces New Zealand on Thursday, Nov. 17, and finishes group play against Ghana on Monday, Nov. 21. The USA will play its first two group games at Sir Hubert Murray Stadium and its third group game at National Football Stadium. Both stadiums are located in Port Moresby, the capital city of Papua New Guinea. All the matches will be broadcast on the FOX family of networks.