USWNT starts 2025 with roster of familiar and fresh faces from NWSL

Emma Hayes has named her first U.S. women’s national team roster of 2025, and it features 26 players from the NWSL and none from Europe due to the fact that this camp is outside of a FIFA window.

The roster is a mix of familiar and fresh faces, with 11 members from the 2024 Olympic gold medal-winning squad and six first-time call-ups. The famed “Triple Espresso” front line of Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Smith will not attend as they continue getting some off-season rest and recovery from injuries, while Rose Lavelle will miss as she recovers from ankle surgery.

The training camp will be held from Jan. 14-21 in Los Angeles, and will run concurrently with a 24-player Futures Camp, which will feature rising USWNT prospects.

“We want to continue to foster an environment and culture on the National Team that is player-centric and female athlete-centric and helps the players maximize their abilities,” Hayes said in a statement. “Having positive, growth experiences with the USWNT will help them in their careers and help us build a deeper player pool. I’m really looking forward to getting on the field with these players and the players in the Futures Camp to get in a solid week of training with both groups without having to make adjustments for the impact that a match would have on our loading and training plan. I can’t wait.”

This camp won’t feature any matches, as the USWNT’s first games of the year will come during the SheBelieves Cup from Feb. 20-26. The Americans will face Colombia, Australia and Japan in the four-team tournament.

The absence of games will allow Hayes time to present her strategy looking ahead to the 2027 World Cup and 2028 Olympics, and lay out her goals and priorities for this year. This is the first real chance Hayes has had since taking this job to think long-term about the future of not just the senior national team, but the youth programs as well.

“Listen, I love developing,” Hayes said. “This part is just as much fun as it is competing for a major tournament in my eyes. 

“I think when you consider how little programming some players have actually had – I almost feel like we’ve had a little bit of a lost generation that might not have had some of the exposures. So I’m desperate to look at ways to bridge that gap because we can’t wholeheartedly just rely on domestic play to do that. We have to give international experiences to players. 

“But I also know our goals for this year are not necessarily the same goals for the following year or the year after that, so we have to experiment with players. And you can’t simply expect players with zero caps, or less than five caps, to go from being a dominant youth player to a dominant senior national team player at the highest level. I certainly saw that in the games we played against England and the Netherlands [in November and December], how important it is to play top opposition.”

And that’s where the fact that this camp will feature two full rosters – one made up of senior players and the other of youth players – will be so beneficial to Hayes as she looks to build the program and develop the player pool. 

“I think when we get to SheBelieves [next month], I think that will be the first camp where I can confidently say I have seen the vast majority of players that I wanted to look at,” Hayes said. “So I feel like we’re in a good position to really push on to that next phase.”

The way the two camps will work is that the senior team will practice on one field, while the youth team will practice on another. If, for example, the WNT has practice from 11:30-1 p.m. one day, the YNT will train right afterward, giving Hayes a chance to coach both sides. Hayes will be supported by both the senior and youth staffs, and will lead classroom sessions for all players.

“I am going to be extremely busy, probably significantly more busy than every [other] camp because I’m going to be coaching two teams,” Hayes said.

The biggest storyline of this camp and leading up to the next World Cup will be who replaces legendary goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher? The longtime USWNT starter retired at the end of 2024, and all eyes will be on the competition to find her replacement. 

Hayes has called in four goalkeepers, including Casey Murphy, who is now the most experienced goalkeeper in the USWNT player pool with 20 caps. Angel City’s Angelina Anderson and Seattle Reign’s Claudia Dickey will compete in their first senior camps, while Utah Royals’ Mandy McGlynn returns after earning her first cap last October.

Hayes noted that she’s seen Murphy, as well as Jane Campbell “in great detail” and knows what they can do. Beyond that, she’s interested in casting a wider net to evaluate more players.

“I would suspect by SheBelieves, I hope that I’ve whittled that down to three [goalkeepers],” Hayes said. “And then I think it will be about, ‘OK, I want to create opportunities, maybe not always for all three of them, but perhaps for two of them to see how they fare against different opposition. And then try and give them exposures over the next couple of years but always keeping the door ajar for players that, say, one of them is not quite ready but will be ready for U-23 programming and may very well progress in the next 12 months.’ 

“I’m very optimistic. We’ve got great goalkeepers in this country. We just have to recognize that there’s not a lot of caps between lots of them and it will probably take the rest of this year to figure that out.”

Other bits to note is that while some stars like Rodman, Swanson, Smith, Lavelle and Lindsey Horan will be noticeably absent, others return. Crystal Dunn is back after missing all fall games and is the most capped player on this roster with 155 appearances. Emily Sonnett, Lynn Williams, Tierna Davidson and Naomi Girma will be in camp as well.

Ashley Hatch, Savannah DeMelo and Ashley Sanchez also return, as Hayes has been keeping close watch on their progress in the NWSL.

Here is the full roster:

Goalkeepers: Angelina Anderson (Angel City FC; 0), Claudia Dickey (Seattle Reign FC; 0), Mandy McGlynn (Utah Royals; 1), Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage; 20)

Defenders: Tierna Davidson (NJ/NY Gotham FC; 65/3), Crystal Dunn (NJ/NY Gotham FC; 155/25), Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave FC; 44/2), Alyssa Malonson (Bay FC; 1/0), Tara McKeown (Washington Spirit; 0/0), Jenna Nighswonger (NJ/NY Gotham FC; 18/2), Emily Sams (Orlando Pride; 2/0), Emily Sonnett (NJ/NY Gotham FC; 103/2), Ryan Williams (North Carolina Courage; 0/0)

Midfielders: Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns FC; 28/1), Savannah DeMelo (Racing Louisville FC; 7/0), Hal Hershfelt (Washington Spirit; 3/0), Nealy Martin (NJ/NY Gotham FC; 0/0), Ashley Sanchez (North Carolina Courage; 28/3), Ally Sentnor (Utah Royals; 2/0), Jaedyn Shaw (San Diego Wave FC; 21/8)

Forwards: Ashley Hatch (Washington Spirit; 22/5), Emma Sears (Racing Louisville FC; 3/1), Ella Stevens (NJ/NY Gotham FC; 0/0), Alyssa Thompson (Angel City FC; 13/1), Morgan Weaver (Portland Thorns FC; 2/0), Lynn Williams (Seattle Reign FC; 75/21)

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of “Strong Like a Woman,” published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her at @LakenLitman.

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