May 1, 2005

Ohai and Baddley off to Japan with the U.S. U16 Women's National Team

State Technical Director Greg Maas announced that Megan Ohai of Draper, Utah and Jessie Baddley of Ogden, Utah have been selected to the full U.S. U16 Women's National Team touring Japan May 5-16. Ohai and Baddley are both products of the Utah Youth Soccer Association's Olympic Development Program and club teams affiliated with UYSA. "It's a tremendous honor to represent your country in international competition and these two young ladies have an opportunity of a lifetime to experience soccer and culture that you simply don't find here at home," said Maas.

U16 Head Coach Sue Patberg has been encouraged by what she's seen so far this year, and is eager to see how lessons are taught and learned in the intense forum of the matches against four Japanese professional sides. "This is our big international trip at this age group," Patberg said. "We're extremely excited about playing there against the Japanese teams. The players there have such an incredibly technical style of play, and it's a style we don't get to see often. It will be a great experience for everybody, a chance to experience a different culture, language, meals and everything, and especially a great soccer opportunity."

Patberg's enthusiasm is fueled in large part by what she's seen from this group both at U15 last year and U16 this season. In three camps during the current calendar year, a host of players were trained and evaluated at Home Depot Center. While the starting group was principally from U.S. Youth Soccer's ODP Regional Teams that gathered for an Interregional last November at Boca Raton, FL, Patberg noted that U.S. Soccer Staff have been diligent in overturning as many stones as possible in the search for talent.

"It was so hard to pick 18, and on top of that you are supposed to pick weeks in advance," Patberg said. "Everyone offers something special and there is so much athleticism out there. They shouldn't be complete players at this age and they aren't, but it seemed like everyone had one, two or three things that stood out." Patberg said that in the end, versatility became one of the key player attributes in her selection process. "We tried to play the German team (at the April camp) with a 4-3-3 and we couldn't do it, we needed to go 4-4-2," she recalled. So it shows we need players who can play more than one role, and we need to fill various roles in a team. We need wing mids, we need wide backs, and we need holding mids. You have to think about all of that (in selecting a squad)."

U.S. U16 Women's National Team Roster for Japan Tour:

GOALKEEPERS (2): Bianca Henninger (San Jose, Calif.), Jorden Kussmann (Lakewood, Wa.)

DEFENDERS (5): Lauren Barnes (Upland, Calif.), Hannah Cerrone (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.), Kate Deines (Issaquah, Wa.), Gretchen Miller (Fairport, N.Y.), Michelle Oliver (Roswell, Ga.)

MIDFIELDERS (5): Courtney Barg (Plano, Texas), Erica Campanellis (Plano, Texas), Sinead Farrelly (Havertown, Pa.), Teresa Noyola (Palo Alto, Calif.), Megan OHai (Salt Lake City, Utah) FORWARDS (6): Jessie Baddley (Ogden, Utah), Chelsea Bednarz (Chandler, Ariz.), Amy Caldwell (Braintree, Mass.), Bianca D'Agostino (Longmeadow, Mass.), Melissa Henderson (Garland, Texas), Casey Nogueira (Raleigh, N.C.)

To see the May 26 Salt Lake Tribune article on Megan Ohai, please click here: Ohai Tribune Ariticle.