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Friday Roundup: U.S. U-23 roster announced for La Manga series

ALSO IN TODAY’S ROUNDUP, FRENCH AND SNOW ASSUME NEW POSITIONS WITHIN U.S. SOCCER, BECKY EDWARDS COMES OUT OF RETIREMENT TO SIGN WITH KRISTIANSTAD DFF, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA TO BROADCAST ALL OF AUSTRALIA’S ALGARVE CUP MATCHES, ORLANDO CUTS RIBBON ON NEW STADIUM, AND SCOTLAND NATIONAL TEAM RECEIVES FUNDING TO TRAIN FULL TIME

Casey Murphy (Rutgers) among two goalkeepers named to U.S. U-23 squad ahead of La Manga matchups (photo: Rutgers)

Casey Murphy (Rutgers) among two goalkeepers named to U.S. U-23 squad ahead of La Manga matchups (photo: Rutgers)

Starting on March 2, the U.S. U-23 women’s national team will compete in three consecutive match ups against Japan, English and Norway. The 22-player roster set to be coached by Seattle Reign Head Coach Laura Harvey will take on Japan on March 2, followed by England on March 4 and Norway on March 7 in La Manga, Spain.

The group includes 17 professionals (with 16 coming from NWSL sides and one currently playing in Iceland), four college players and one high school senior in Ashley Sanchez. Nine players from the squad have represented the U.S. in a World Cup at the youth level, and seven have seen training time with the full national team. Of the 16 professional players, 11 will be NWSL rookies this year while five will be starting their second consecutive NWSL season.

{ALSO TODAY: Dash sign defender Claire Falknor}

After this three-game series, the U-23 women’s national team will participate in the Thorns Spring Invitational starting March 26, where they will compete against the Houston Dash, the Portland Thorns and the Chicago Red Starts in this NWSL preseason tournament.

Full roster below.

GOALKEEPERS (2): Casey Murphy (Rutgers; Bridgewater, N.J.), Madalyn Schiffel (Seattle Reign; Citrus Heights, Calif.)

DEFENDERS (7): Mandy Freeman (Sky Blue FC; West Covina, Calif.), Adrienne Jordan (IBV; Colorado Springs, Colo.), Kristen McNabb (Seattle Reign; Montville, N.J.), Kayla Mills (Sky Blue FC; West Covina, Calif.), Katie Naughton (Chicago Red Stars; Elgin, Ill.), Erica Skroski (Sky Blue FC; New Brunswick, N.J.), Samantha Witteman (NC Courage; Redondo Beach, Calif.)

MIDFIELDERS (8): Morgan Andrews (Boston Breakers; Milford, N.H.), Tierna Davidson (Stanford; Menlo Park, Calif.), Christina Gibbons (FC Kansas City, Raleigh, N.C.), Tyler Lussi (Portland Thorns; Lutherville, Md.), Emily Ogle (Penn State; Strongsville, Ohio), Margaret Purce (Boston Breakers; Silver Spring, Md.), Ashley Sanchez (SoCal Blues; Monrovia, Calif.), Dani Weatherholt (Orlando Pride; San Clemente, Calif.)

FORWARDS (5): Celeste Boureille (Portland Thorns; San Francisco, Calif.), Makenzy Doniak (NC Courage; Chino Hills, Calif.), Ashley Hatch (NC Courage; Gilbert, Ariz.), Savannah McCaskill (South Carolina; Chapin, S.C.), Arielle Ship (Washington Spirit; Westlake Village, Calif.)

MICHELLE FRENCH AND B.J. SNOW TAKE POSITIONS WITH SENIOR WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM

USA v Brazil: Group B - FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Canada 2014

U.S Soccer announced that Michelle French and B.J. Snow will take new coaching positions with the U.S. women’s national teams and leave their current roles with the U-20 and U-17 women’s national teams respectively.

As a coach at the U-20 level, French led the squad at the 2014 and 2016 Women’s World Cups. She also worked as an assistant for the full national team at both the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympics. Now, she will join Ellis’ coaching staff as a full time assistant.

At the helm of the U-17 women’s national team, Snow led the team through the last two cycles. He will now be assuming a new role that was just created, as Head of U.S. Women’s National Team Talent Identification, where he will be tasked with identifying potential players both domestically in the NWSL and in college, as well as from clubs overseas.

U.S. Soccer has already begun the search for new head coaches for the U-17 and U-20 national teams to replace both French and Snow.

BECKY EDWARDS COMES OUT OF RETIREMENT TO JOIN SWEDISH CLUB

Becky Edwards, who retired this past September, signed with Swedish club Kristianstad DFF (Photo: Orlando Pride)

Becky Edwards, who retired this past September, signed with Swedish club Kristianstad DFF (Photo: Orlando Pride)

Kristianstad DFF has signed midfielder Becky Edwards, as was announced on Friday. Edwards retired last September at the end of the NWSL season with the Orlando Pride but appears to have changed her mind on that front as she joins the Swedish club for the 2017 season.

Over the last four years, Edwards has played with four different NWSL clubs, most recently with Orlando during the 2016 season. Before that, she spent 2015 with the Western New York Flash, 2014 in Houston and 2013 with the Porland Thorns. Prior to joining the NWSL, Edwards played with KDFF in 2012.

Edwards won three professional-league championships throughout her six professional seasons in the United States. In 2008, she also was the captain of the U.S. U-20 Women’s World Cup title winning squad. However, she never made an appearance with the full national team.

FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA TO BROADCAST ALL OF THE MATILDAS’ ALGARVE MATCHES

Matildas secure broadcast deal with Fox Sports for Algarve Cup matches (Getty Images)

Matildas secure broadcast deal with Fox Sports for Algarve Cup matches (Getty Images)

The Australian Federation announced on Thursday that Fox Sports Australia will be broadcasting all of the Matildas matches from the Algarve Cup starting next week. They have locked in all three group stage matches against Sweden, Netherlands and China P.R starting on March 2 as well as their placement match after that.

This will be the first time the Australian women’s national team has competed in the Algarve Cup in 17 years, and it will be the squad’s first international matches since last summer’s Olympic Games where they bowed out in the quarterfinals after losing to Brazil in penalty kicks.

RIBBON CUTTING TAKES PLACE IN ORLANDO FOR NEW STADIUM

Orlando's 25,000-seat soccer-specific stadium was unveiled today (Photo: Orlando City SC)

Orlando’s 25,000-seat soccer-specific stadium was unveiled today (Photo: Orlando City SC)

Today, Orlando City officially cut the ribbon on the unveiling of their new stadium in downtown Orlando. The new stadium sits within the neighborhood of Parramore, which has historically suffered from poverty. The new home was honored throughout the ceremony specifically by a six panel historical display to be added to the stadium outside of the east gates that showcases the history of the people living in the community.

Orlando City officials believe the stadium will be ready to go for Orlando City’s first game of the MLS season next weekend.

SCOTLAND NATIONAL TEAM WILL BE IN FULL-TIME TRAINING AHEAD OF EUROS

Ahead of this summer’s EURO Championships, the Scotland women’s national team secured funding to allow for a full-time training environment so that the team can prepare for the tournament. Funding from sportscotland, the national agency for sport in Scotland, will make it possible the players to be “full-time employees” so that they can shift their focus towards the EUROs.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is excited about this funding arrangement that’s allowing the women to train full-time ahead of representing their country on the international level. “They have done tremendously well in qualifying for their first major tournament and this will help the squad to arrive in the Netherlands in the best possible shape,” she stated according to SportFirst.

Head coach Anna Signeul is set to step down from her position after the EUROs as she accepted a new role as head coach of the Finland women’s national team. Her squad qualified for their first major championship in September and will begin play for the EUROs mid-July.

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