South Carolina women’s soccer’s reigning Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year Savannah McCaskill received an invitation to join the United States Under-20 Women’s National Team Camp, U.S. Soccer announced earlier this week.
U-20 head coach Michelle French announced a preliminary team of 18 collegiate players and 10 club level players this week. Over the next few months, coaches will evaluate the players in an attempt to cut the team down to 21 players for the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
McCaskill and the other players will attempt to impress coaches over the next few months. The first step will be training camp in Sanford, Florida from Jan. 24 to 31. Jan. 24 will be the first time all 28 players are together and the coaches will have a couple of chances to evaluate the talent in game settings. The team will have exhibitions against the University of Florida and German powerhouse Bayern Munich that week.
McCaskill led all SEC freshmen in both scoring and points this past season, helping lead the Gamecocks to their first national quarterfinal in school history. Her four goals in SEC play, including the game-winner in the 89th minute against then-No. 5 Florida, spurred her to second team all-SEC honors.
The Chapin, South Carolina native started every match at forward this season and was named SEC Freshman of the Week twice — the first player in school history to do so.
McCaskill joins former Gamecocks Kayla Grimsley and Blakely Mattern as the third South Carolina product to receive an invitation to a U.S. U-20 camp.
After camp, the invitees will have intermittent tune-ups for the next year before the final 21-player roster is announced sometime early in the summer of 2016.