WOMEN’S SOCCER: UNC’s Olivia Thomas one of 24 players called up U.S. U-20 Women’s National Team training camp
- Dan Stickradt
- Mar 29
- 4 min read
NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com
U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team training camp roster features 24 players
CHICAGO – Current University of North Carolina sophomore Olivia Thomas was one of 24 players called up this week for the U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team training camp to be held from March 31-April 7 at the Kansas City Current’s University of Kansas Health System Training Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
Thomas, a former youth club standout from the Michigan Hawks and Grosse Pointe Woods (Mich.) University-Liggett High School who also played the 2023 summer season with Flint AFC of the USL W League, is coming off a fine collegiate season where she helped the Tar Heels win another NCAA Division I national championship. She was named the NCAA College Cup Most Outstanding Offensive Player and to the NCAA All-Tournament Team in late 2024.
The 5-foot-10, lightning-quick Thomas finished second for the Tar Heels in scoring by notching nine goals and two assists for 20 points for a team that finished 22-5-0 and entered the postseason as a No. 4 seed. She had 77 total shots for a team that finished with 64 goals scored in 27 games.
Thomas scored the game-winner in the 62nd minute off a free kick which gave the Tar Heels a 1-0 win over Wake Forest University in the NCAA title game for their national record-extending 23rd title. Thomas played in 19 of 27 games, missing eight games with an injury but made 16 starts.
HEADING TO KANSAS CITY
Becki Tweed, a current assistant coach for the San Diego Wave, a former assistant coach and head coach for Angel City FC and former U.S. U-20 WNT assistant coach, will run the camp, which features 22 college players and two professionals in winger Emeri Adames and central defender Jordyn Bugg, both from the Seattle Reign FC. Both Adames and Bugg have scored goals early in the NWSL season, with Bugg’s strike from distance against the North Carolina Courage on March 22 an early candidate for goal of the year.
While players born in 2005 are too old to be eligible for next U-20 WWC, players born on or after Jan. 1, 2006, are age-eligible for the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland. In this camp, the four players born in 2006 are: Adames, Bugg and goalkeepers Caroline Birkel and Sonoma Kasica. Adames, Bugg and Birkel were members of the USA’s 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Team that finished third in Colombia. Adames and Bugg started all seven games of that tournament while Birkel, one of the youngest players on the team, was a back-up and did not see action. Midfielder Taylor Suarez was also on the USA’s 2024 U-20 WWC Team.
The U.S. U-19 and U.S. U-18 Women’s National Teams, which are holding a camp in Fayetteville, Ga., during this FIFA window, feature the majority of the players who will populate the U.S. team that attempts to qualify for the World Cup at the 2025 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship, set for May 29-June 8 in Alajuela, Costa Rica. The USA will face host Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and Guyana in Group A play. The top four finishers in the tournament will advance to represent the region at the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland.
This roster also features four players who played for the USA at the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India in Adames, Bugg, midfielder Mia Bhuta and defender Cameron Roller.
Four players on this roster helped the USA to the bronze medal at the 2023 Pan American Games in Chile: Kasica, Bugg, Adames and forward Katie Collins.
U.S. U-20 WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM ROSTER
(U.S. U-20 Women’s National Team Training Camp Roster by Position; College or Club; Hometown; Kansas City, Missouri)
Goalkeepers (3): Caroline Birkel (Stanford; St. Louis, Mo.), Sonoma Kasica (Notre Dame; St. Petersburg, Fla.), Adelyn Todd (Florida State; Denver, Colo.)
Defenders (8): Hailey Baumann (Wisconsin; South Lyon, Mich.), Kennedy Bell (Maryland; Charlotte, N.C.), Ava Bramblett (Ohio State; Noblesville, Ind.), Jordyn Bugg (Seattle Reign; El Cajon, Calif.), Cameron Patton (Texas Christian; Austin, Texas), Cameron Roller (Duke; Sherman, Texas), Morgan Roy (Notre Dame; Commerce, Mich.), Kaelyn Wolfe (Penn State; West Chester, Pa.)
Midfielders (7): Mia Bhuta (Stanford; Pittsburgh, Pa.), Shae Harvey (Stanford; Hermosa Beach, Calif.), Reagan Kotschau (Colorado; Thornton, Colo.), Emily Lenhard (Maryland; Stafford, Va.), Ashley Pennie (UNC; Miami, Fla.), Megan Santa Cruz (Purdue; Burbank, Calif.), Taylor Suarez (Florida State; Charlotte, N.C.)
Forwards (6): Emeri Adames (Seattle Reign; Red Oak, Texas), Katie Collins (South Carolina; Gallatin, Tenn.), Mia Oliaro (Duke; Chapel Hill, N.C.), Julia Quinonez (Pepperdine; Torrance, Calif.), Amanda Schlueter (Ohio State; Union, Ky.), Olivia Thomas (UNC; Grosse Pointe, Mich.)
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