ATLANTA (Jan. 15, 2026) – The U.S. Women’s Youth National Team staff has named 24 players to take part in a U.S. National Team Development Camp with the first part of camp running concurrently with the USWNT January training camp at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif.
The players named to the camp, which will run from Jan. 17-25, are primarily collegiate players (21) along with current USL Super League leading scorer Ashlyn Puerta, who has 11 goals for Sporting JAX, Dallas Trinity FC midfielder Lexi Missimo, and defender Zoe Matthews, who plays for Dux Logroño in Spain on loan from the Houston Dash.
U.S. Under-23 Women’s National Team head coach Heather Dyche will run the camp with all the other women’s and girls’ YNT head coaches serving as assistants.
The roster features players from six different birth years – 2003 through 2008 – with 11 of the players age-eligible for the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. Six of the players have represented the USA in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup while goalkeeper Caroline Birkel was on the USA’s bronze medal-winning 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Team.
Striker Wrianna Hudson, who stands 6-foot-2, along with midfielder Nyanya Touray, who is the youngest player in camp, helped lead Florida State to the 2025 NCAA Championship. Hudson scored the game-winning goals in the semifinal and the title game.
U.S. Roster by Position – 2026 U.S. National Team Development Camp
Goalkeepers (3): Valentina Amaral (Wake Forest; Oviedo, Fla.), Caroline Birkel (Stanford; St. Louis, Mo.), Sonoma Kasica (Notre Dame; St. Petersburg, Fla.)
Defenders (8): Natalie Bain (Xavier; Alexandria, Ky.), Ally Brown (Tennessee; College Grove, Tenn.), Macy Blackburn (Texas Tech; Fort Worth, Texas), Bella Devey (UNC; Draper, Utah), Gracie Falla (South Carolina; Hattiesburg, Miss.), Daya King (Duke; Moreno Valley, Calif.), Zoe Matthews (Dux Logroño, ESP; Southlake, Texas), Sierra Sythe (Wake Forest; Long Beach, Calif.)
Midfielders (7): Pearl Cecil (Virginia; Encinitas, Calif.), Sam Courtwright (Duke; Dallas, Texas), Charlotte Kohler (Stanford; Woodside, Calif.), Lexi Missimo (Dallas Trinity FC; Southlake, Texas), Y-Lan Nguyen (Stanford; Fairfax, Va.), Ashlyn Puerta (Sporting JAX; Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.), Nyanya Touray (Florida State; Silver Spring, Md.)
Forwards (6): Lilliah Blum (UNC; Verona, Wis.), Alex Buck (Washington; Medina, Wash.), Seven Castain (TCU; Draper, Utah), Wrianna Hudson (Florida State; Rochester, N.Y.), Hope Leyba (Colorado; Phoenix, Ariz.), Ava McDonald (Texas; Allen, Texas)
“We are excited about hosting this Development Camp concurrently with our Women’s National Team in Los Angeles as the camp will provide a valuable platform for players to showcase their abilities in front of the WNT and Youth WNT coaches,” said Tracey Kevins, U.S. Soccer’s Head of Development for the Women’s Youth National Teams. “With a strong and expanding talent pool, this initiative allows us to offer players a meaningful development opportunity, earned by their outstanding performances throughout their college and USL seasons.”
Additional Notes:
- Five of the players on the roster have caps at the U-20 international level and four have caps at the U-17 level.
- The roster features four players born in 2003, four born in 2004, five born in 2005, four born in 2006, five born in 2007 and two born in 2008, those being midfielders Nyanya Touray and Pear Cecil, who captained the USA as a center back at the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
- The players on the roster come from 15 different colleges, with Stanford and UNC leading the way with three players each while Duke, Florida State and Wake Forest have two each.
- Seven Castain scored 17 goals with four assists for Texas Christian last season. Wrianna Hudson scored 15 goals with one assist for Florida State. After scoring 10 goals in her first two years of college soccer, Hope Leyba exploded for 22 goals (with one assist) in 24 matches for the Colorado Buffaloes.
