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Kelly Isleib will make her second national team appearance.
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April 1, 2009
CARSON, Calif. - University of Utah midfielder Kelly Isleib has been invited to the upcoming United States U-23 Women's National Team training camp, U.S. Soccer announced this week. She will join 23 other standouts from around the country April 11-19 in Portland, Ore., and will suit up for three games.
"Kelly is a very talented player with several unique qualities to her game," said Utah head coach Rich Manning. "This will be an important opportunity for her to test herself in a competitive environment at the highest level. This will also be an opportunity for her to sharpen her skills for her upcoming senior year and also learn some good lessons to take back to her teammates, who may also have aspirations of reaching that level."
The U-23 squad, coached by Bill Irwin, will take on the Portland Pilots on April 17 at 7 p.m. at Merlo Field. Prior to the feature matchup, the squad will also face Oregon State in Corvallis on April 14 and the University of Washington on April 16 at the Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton.
Isleib will make her second appearance for the U.S., after also attending the U-19 Women's National Team training camp in 2006, prior to her knee injury.
"Kelly has worked extremely hard since her knee injury three years ago to get back to this level mentally and physically," said Manning. "I think she is ready to test herself again and I have great confidence that she will be successful. At Utah we pride ourselves on preparing players to go as far as their talent and potential can take them and we are very proud of Kelly's progress."
Incidentally, the rest of the Utah women's soccer team will be in Portland to take on the Huskies as part of their spring exhibition schedule and hope to have an opportunity to watch one of their own compete for the national squad.
Isleib earned her second straight first-team All-Mountain West Conference selection this fall, leading the Utes in goals (6), assists (6), points (18) and game-winning goals (4). She is already Utah's all-time assists leader with 23 helpers.
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