{"id":181478,"date":"2025-05-20T19:35:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T19:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/20\/uswnt-roster-strikes-a-balance-ahead-of-summer-friendlies\/"},"modified":"2025-05-20T19:35:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T19:35:12","slug":"uswnt-roster-strikes-a-balance-ahead-of-summer-friendlies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/20\/uswnt-roster-strikes-a-balance-ahead-of-summer-friendlies\/","title":{"rendered":"USWNT Roster Strikes a Balance Ahead of Summer Friendlies"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Another USWNT roster arrived on Tuesday,\u00a0with head coach Emma Hayes tapping\u00a024 players<\/a>\u00a0for the world No. 1<\/a> team’s upcoming\u00a0early summer friendlies\u00a0against No. 17 China PR and No. 40 Jamaica.<\/p>\n

Featuring both mainstays and prospects, the\u00a0lineup<\/a>\u00a0showcases Hayes’s interest in developing young standouts while also highlighting returning regulars \u2014 and one unexpected favorite.<\/p>\n

USWNT staples like Crystal Dunn,\u00a0Emily Sonnett<\/a>, Lindsey Heaps, and Lynn Biyendolo are back, balancing out less experienced players like forwards\u00a0Michelle Cooper<\/a>\u00a0and Emma Sears, midfielder Claire Hutton, and defender and first-time call-up Kerry Abello.<\/p>\n

One uncapped invitee doesn’t fit the US’s ongoing\u00a0youth movement<\/a>\u00a0mold, with 32-year-old Kansas City captain and celly queen\u00a0Lo’eau LaBonta<\/a>\u00a0earning her first national team nod.<\/p>\n

“First of all, she’s deserving of the call-up,” Hayes told reporters on Tuesday morning, praising the midfielder’s NWSL play. “She\u2019s being consistent in everything that she has done. And with the volume of young players or less experienced players we’re bringing in, I think we have to get that balance right.”<\/p>\n

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Angel City sister duo\u00a0Alyssa and Gisele Thompson<\/a>\u00a0also made the cut, with Hayes shifting Gisele from defender to forward ahead of the younger Thompson’s possible fourth senior cap.<\/p>\n

European club players also returned to the spotlight, with Ajax’s Lily Yohannes, Chelsea’s Naomi Girma and Catarina Macario<\/a>, Arsenal’s Emily Fox, and Manchester United’s Phallon Tullis-Joyce<\/a> heading to camp alongside Dunn (PSG) and Heaps (OL Lyonnes).<\/p>\n

Hayes also noted that former call-ups Jaedyn Shaw (North Carolina), Mia Fishel (Chelsea), and\u00a0Korbin Albert<\/a>\u00a0(PSG) will spend the break with the USWNT U-23 squad, calling time with the youth team “what I felt has been really missing for a lot of players.”<\/p>\n

Stellar NWSL play has Seattle’s Claudia Dickey in the mix for the USWNT goalie gig. (Soobum Im\/NWSL via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

USWNT goalkeeper competition continues<\/h2>\n

Tullis-Joyce as well as Utah’s Mandy McGlynn and Seattle\u2019s uncapped Claudia Dickey will feature in goal, as the search to replace\u00a0retired<\/a>\u00a0USWNT legend\u00a0Alyssa Naeher<\/a>\u00a0continues.<\/p>\n

“The data don’t lie \u2014 Claudia Dickey’s probably the best performing goalkeeper in the NWSL this season,” Hayes said of the US newcomer.<\/p>\n

Notably, Houston’s\u00a0Jane Campbell<\/a>\u00a0will not be joining the team, despite the longtime reserve keeper’s 10 caps and six clean sheets for the USWNT.<\/p>\n

All in all, Tuesday’s roster marks one of Hayes’s more diverse lineups, with this window’s friendly opponents allowing her the freedom to test out new configurations.<\/p>\n

Expect the US boss’s next roster to be a bit less experimental, as the stakes will raise with late June’s three-match slate against\u00a0No. 26 Ireland and No. 7 Canada<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The May\/June 2025 USWNT roster<\/h2>\n