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F.C. Indiana's Leitner At The Cyprus Cup

03/01/2017, 3:15pm EST
By Admin

Detroit’s Winters & Santa Clarita’s Villacorta compete for U.S. U-20’s in Spain

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ - F.C. Indiana captain & Indiana University junior midfielder Annelie Leitner was named to the Austrian Women’s National Team squad for the 2017 Cyprus Cup, which kicks off today. Austria will take on the likes of South Korea, New Zealand and Scotland in Group B action. Leitner is in her fifth season with the Lionesses, who will take part in the newly-formed United Women’s Soccer (UWS) Midwest Conference this summer.

The Salzburg, Austria native has competed with the Austrian U-19 and U-17 squads, but this is Leitner's first stint with the full national team. With the Hoosiers, Leitner has netted three goals and played in 38 games, while making 22 starts. In 2016, she scored in Indiana’s 1-1 draw with Louisville to open the season before suffering a year-ending injury.

Detroit Sun F.C. & University of Iowa freshman midfielder Natalie Winters and Santa Clarita Blue Heat & rising UCLA freshman midfielder Viviana Villacorta travel to Spain to play three games with the United States Under-20 Women’s National Team at the La Manga Tournament. The U-20’s will face the U-19 sides from Norway (March 3 at 11:30 AM ET), Germany (March 5 at 9 AM ET) and France (March 7 at 10 AM ET) but will be playing against teams with players from the same birth years.

This age group begins a new cycle with the goal of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in France. The 24-player roster is a mixture of collegiate and youth club players with 10 already enrolled in college. The matches will be available to watch online with details coming on U.S. Soccer’s Twitter account for the Youth National Teams @ussoccer_ynt.

Winters will be a sophomore for the Hawkeyes in Fall 2017 after earning Big Ten All-Freshman Team honors last season. The Plymouth, Michigan native started all 19 games and scored two goals & three assists. Villacorta played in eight games last summer for the defending UWS champion Blue Heat, scoring in the team’s season-opening win over Houston and starting the UWS Final vs. New Jersey Copa F.C. The Lawndale, California native recently committed to play for the UCLA Bruins, starting next fall.

About United Women’s Soccer (UWS): UWS is a national women’s soccer league sanctioned by U.S. Soccer through the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA). UWS is a professionally operated league created for teams that meet high minimum standards. The season runs from May until the end of July, culminating in a National Championship match. The UWS player pool is comprised of college players, aspiring & former professionals and international stars. You can follow UWS on social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

UWS is managed by EDP, a leading soccer management company that runs a number of leagues and tournaments. In addition to UWS, EDP operates youth leagues that includes an NPL league, the EDP Super Club program, the EDP Premier League and the EDP Championship League. EDP also runs EDP Futures programs for U-7’s to U-12’s and it conducts more than 20 youth tournaments, including tournaments within its EDP Cup Series and EDP Showcase Series.

Media can contact UWS Director of Communications Jorma Kansanen by e-mail at Press@UWSSoccer.com. You can visit the league’s official website at UWSSoccer.com. Interested team applicants can contact League Director Joe Ferrara by e-mail at Joe@UWSSoccer.com.

Tag(s): News |   Santa Clarita Blue Heat  Detroit Sun  FC Indiana