CHICAGO (April 14, 2015, U.S. Soccer) – With 55 days until the USA’s opening match of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Jill Ellis has named the 23 players who will represent the United States on women’s soccer’s grandest stage Tuesday. The roster will not become official until it is submitted to FIFA on May 25, which is the deadline for all teams to submit their final squads.

Six former University of North Carolina Tar Heels have been named to the team – the most from any university program. The Tar Heel contingent includes Heather O’Reilly, playing in her third World Cup, Lori Chalupny and Tobin Heath, playing in their second World Cups, and Ashlyn Harris, Meghan Klingenberg and Whitney Engen all playing in their first World Cups. Chalupny is the most veteran Tar Heel in the group, having last competed at UNC in 2005. O’Reilly’s last season was 2006 while Engen, Harris and Heath finished in 2009 and Klingenberg in 2010.

Broken down by alma maters, the team includes six players from North Carolina, two each from UCLA, Stanford, Penn State and Virginia and one each from Washington, Santa Clara, Monmouth, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Portland, California, USC and Florida.

Stole the information above! Below, it’s mine.
* Soccer is the most popular sport in the world.
* The USA men’s team has never won the World Cup.
* Title 1X became law in 1970. Most widely known beneficiary? Women’s sports.
* No other country enforces such a law.
* July 5, 2015, USA women win third World Cup title, since Title 1X.
* Now is the time to wave a flag. An American one.
We watched the game on TV. With pride. We were joined by guests from Burlington, NC, one of whom asked “… where is their national training center?”
My reply? The largest is thirty miles from you. UNC-AT Chapel Hill. Of the 23 roster members above, all 23 went to college. Anson Dorance, Coach at UNC is legend.
College athletics are the most productive training center for elite athletes and teams anywhere in the world.
Is tennis watching? All the soccer girls probably had sizable scholarships. And without the scholarships how many would been where they are now?
Tennis has cut this foundation off. Our funding is “foreign aid”, shipped all over the world, while we can’t seem to find a fair and legal way to reserve money for our own children.
Americans want top level players. People are searching for help. I repeat: Restore reasonable college scholarships funding for tennis. And the foundation for player development in our country.