USWNT roster announced for October matches vs. South Korea

The U.S. women’s national team announced their 22-player roster for two upcoming friendlies against South Korea.

Fresh off a pair of wins against New Zealand last month, the U.S. women’s national soccer team will start right back up with a set of matches against the South Korea on Oct. 19 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans and on Oct. 22 at Sahlen’s Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C.

The USWNT earned two dominant wins over New Zealand last month, securing a 3-1 victory on Sept. 15 and a 5-0 win four days later. The wins were a sign head coach Jill Ellis was moving past the “experimental phases” we saw during the SheBelievesCup, where she threw in a three-back system, and back to the “let’s grab three points” mindset. Whatever Ellis did, or rather whatever the U.S. players did, worked.

This time around, Ellis decided to stick to 20 of the same players she called up for the New Zealand friendlies and welcomed Andi Sullivan back into the mix. Sullivan, a redshirt senior at Stanford will earn her first national team call-up since suffering an ACL tear fall of 2016. Sullivan is having a standout season for the Cardinal (12-1), earning one goal and six assists so far this year.

Twenty of the 22 players named are also playing in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) which concludes this weekend in Orlando, FL. The Portland Thorns will face the North Carolina Courage on Saturday, Oct. 14 at Orlando City Stadium. Seven players between the two sides have been named to Ellis’ squad. For the Courage, Sam Mewis, Lynn Williams, Abby Dahlkemper and Taylor Smith were named, and for the Thorns Tobin Heath, Lindsey Horan and Allie Long.

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See the 22-player roster below:

GOALKEEPERS (3): Jane Campbell (Houston Dash; 1/0), Ashlyn Harris (Orlando Pride; 13/0), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars; 20/0)

DEFENDERS (7): Abby Dahlkemper (NC Courage; 9/0), Julie Ertz (Chicago Red Stars; 53/11), Sofia Huerta (Chicago Red Stars; 1/0), Kelley O’Hara (Sky Blue FC; 101/2), Becky Sauerbrunn (FC Kansas City; 131/0), Casey Short (Chicago Red Stars; 15/0), Taylor Smith (NC Courage; 5/0)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Tobin Heath (Portland Thorns FC; 132/18), Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns FC; 39/4), Carli Lloyd (Houston Dash; 242/97), Allie Long (Portland Thorns FC; 31/5), Samantha Mewis (NC Courage; 30/5), Megan Rapinoe (Seattle Reign FC; 125/33), Andi Sullivan (Stanford; 4/0)

FORWARDS (5): Crystal Dunn (Chelsea FC; 55/22), Alex Morgan (Orlando Pride; 130/77), Christen Press (Chicago Red Stars; 92/43), Mallory Pugh (Washington Spirit; 28/6), Lynn Williams (NC Courage; 11/3) 

Facing South Korea will be a big test for the USWNT, especially since in 2015 the two teams drew to a 0-0 scoreline in Harrison, N.J. South Korea announced their roster on Oct. 10 with several new faces called up by head coach Yoon Deok-yeo. Equalizer Soccer’s Hal Kaiser noted that nine players named have fewer than 10 caps with the national team. See the full roster here.

Alex Morgan’s NWSL season ended last Saturday when the Orlando Pride fell to the Portland Thorns 4-1 in the semifinals. Despite the disappointing end to what was a historic season for the Pride, Morgan has been an absolute scoring machine for the club and will look to keep that rolling and build on her 77 international goals to date. With the Pride this season, Morgan scored 12 goals in just 13 games played.

Houston Dash’s Carli Lloyd joins the roster with 97 international goals, getting closer and closer to  a full century, a mark reached by only six players in history.