June 24, 2008
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Former University of Notre Dame women’s soccer standouts Kate (Sobrero) Markgraf (`98) and Shannon Boxx (`99) have been named to the 2008 United States Olympic Team, it was announced late Monday by U.S. head coach Pia Sundhage. Markgraf and Boxx are two of four Irish women’s soccer alums who will suit up for the Beijing Olympics, joining Canadian National Team members Melissa Tancredi (`03) and Candace Chapman (`04), who both will make their first trip to the Olympics in August.
Markgraf, who has been a starting defender for Team USA for the better part of the past decade, has been selected for her third U.S. Olympic Team after winning gold four years ago in Athens and taking silver at the 2000 Sydney Games. The Bloomfield Hills, Mich., native is a co-captain for this year’s United States squad and is one of top four most-capped defenders in U.S. history (with 181 National Team appearances; fellow ’08 co-captain Christie Rampone has 193. Markgraf also has represented the Stars & Stripes in the past three FIFA Women’s World Cups (1999, 2003, 2007), helping the United States take the title in ’99 following a thrilling penalty-kick shootout win over China at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
Boxx came on the U.S. Soccer scene at the 2003 Women’s World Cup despite not having earned a full National Team cap to that point (the only player ever to do so) and has since evolved into one of the world’s premier defensive midfielders. The Redondo Beach, Calif., product has earned 92 caps in her career, scoring 18 goals, and earning Most Valuable Player honors at Portugal’s prestigious Algarve Cup in 2004 and 2006. Boxx is ready to make her second trip to the Olympics after starting all six games in 2004, scoring the first American goal in the competition and assisting on the game-winning goal in the quarterfinals vs. Japan.
Markgraf and Boxx have helped the Americans to a 17-0-1 record so far in 2008, with four tournament titles in the books. At the Peace Queen Cup (which concluded last weekend in Seoul, South Korea), Markgraf was named the Sierra Mist Woman of the Match in the USA’s 2-1 opening-round win over Australia, and both players appeared in three of the four tournament games. The United States defeated Canada, 1-0, in the Peace Queen Cup championship match on a second-half injury-time goal, marking the second time this year that the Americans have ousted their counterparts to the North in nail-biting fashion. The U.S. also defeated Canada, 6-5 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 tie in the finals of the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament back in April in Mexico.
Despite the loss in the Olympic qualifying final, Canada already was assured a berth in the Olympics simply by reaching the title game. Tancredi had headed home the tying goal (her fourth in as many tournament games) with four minutes left in the second overtime period, forcing the penalty kick session where she converted her attempt (the third try and second conversion by the Canadian side in the shootout). A resident of Ancaster, Ontario, Tancredi has 32 caps and has scored seven goals on the frontline in her Team Canada career, which began in 2004. Meanwhile, Chapman (who hails from Ajax, Ontario) has 56 caps and four goals as a defender/midfielder for her home country, in a National Team career that dates back to 2002.
Both players suited up for Canada in the last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup, with each scoring a goal in three matches (the Canadians didn’t advance out of group play). Chapman also had been in line to wear the Maple Leaf in the 2003 World Cup before suffering a knee injury prior to the competition.
The U.S. Olympic Women’s Soccer Team will play four send-off matches in the next month, starting with a trip to Europe for contests at Norway (July 2) and Sweden (July 5) and concluding back in the States against Brazil on July 13 (Commerce City, Colo.; 2 p.m. MT on ESPN) and July 16 (San Diego, Calif.; 7 p.m. PT on Fox Soccer Channel). The Americans will then head to China to open Olympic competition on Aug. 6 with a Group G match against Norway in Qinhuangdao (7:45 a.m ET). That will be followed by two days off before facing Japan on Aug. 9 in Qinhuangdao (5 a.m. ET) and wrapping group play on Aug. 12 against New Zealand in Shenyang (7:45 a.m. ET). The top two teams in each of the three four-team groups, as well as the two best third-place teams, will advance to the quarterfinals. NBC is expected to provide extensive live television coverage of the U.S. women’s soccer team during this year’s Olympics — consult NBCSports.com for the latest broadcast schedules.
Canada has been placed in Group E for the opening round of Olympic play, and will kick off Aug. 6 against Argentina at 5 a.m. (ET) in Tianjin. The Maple Leafs also will face the host Chinese on Aug. 9 in Tianjin (7:45 a.m. ET) and Sweden on Aug. 12 in Beijing (7:45 a.m. ET) as they go in search of their first Olympic medal.
• • •
Fowlkes Helps U.S. Reach CONCACAF U-20 Championship Semifinals
Notre Dame rising sophomore starts twice as Americans move within one win of making FIFA U-20 World Cup.
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Notre Dame rising sophomore defender/midfielder Lauren Fowlkes (Lee’s Summit, Mo./St. Teresa’s Academy) has helped the United States Under-20 Women’s National Team advance to the semifinals of the 2008 CONCACAF U-20 Championship, which currently is ongoing in Puebla, Mexico. The Americans, who finished first in Group A, will play Group B runner-up Costa Rica Wednesday at 1 p.m. CT in a semifinal contest with the winner not only moving on to the title match (Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT), but also automatically qualifying for the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, to be played in November in Chile.
Rising sophomore defender/midfielder Lauren Fowlkes has helped the U.S. advance to the semifinals of the CONCACAF U-20 Championship in Mexico.
|
 |
The CONCACAF U-20 third-place match between the semifinal losers (Canada and Mexico are the other semifinalists) will take place Saturday at noon CT, with that winner joining the title-game participants in the U-20 Women’s World Cup.
Fowlkes started two of the three group-play matches on the USA backline, as the Stars & Stripes outscored their three opponents by a combined 16-0 score (she rested during a 9-0 rout of Cuba). Led by former U.S. Senior National Team coach Tony DiCicco, the American squad is searching for its third CONCACAF U-19/U-20 title since the bi-annual competition was created in 2002, with the United States qualifying for the FIFA U-19/U-20 World Cup out of all four tournaments.
As a freshman at Notre Dame last season, Fowlkes started all 26 matches, scoring a pair of goals and adding an assist in a team-high 2,324 minutes. She also proved her value on the offensive end during the spring 2008 season, when she scored the game-winning goal in a 2-1 exhibition victory over Mexico at Alumni Field.
The U.S. Soccer web site has conducted a Q&A with Fowlkes during the CONCACAF U-20 tournament in Mexico. That interview can be read by clicking here.
— ND —