CHICAGO, IL (Oct 7, 2008) USSF -- The gold medal-winning US Women’s National Soccer Team will continue its Achieve Your Gold Tour with three games against South Korea during the first week of November. Tickets for all three games will go on sale this week.
The tour, which is taking the Olympic champions across the USA to celebrate its historic run to the top of the podium in Beijing, will resume on Nov. 1 at the University of Richmond Stadium in Richmond, Va. Kickoff is at 6pm ET. The game will be a homecoming for Virginia native and University of Virginia alumna Angela Hucles, who led the team in scoring during the Olympics with four goals.
The USA will travel from Virginia to Cincinnati, hometown of US defender Heather Mitts, for a game on Nov. 5 at Paul Brown Stadium. Kickoff is 7:30pm ET. Mitts, who has 91 caps for the USA, will play for the USA in her hometown for the second time as the USA passed through Cincinnati on the 2004 Victory Tour to celebrate the gold medal in Athens, Greece.
The three-game set against the Koreans will conclude on Nov. 8 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., with a kickoff at 7pm ET. It will mark the first visit to Florida by the US Women in more than eight years.
Tickets for the games in Richmond and Tampa go on sale to the public Friday, Oct. 10, at 10am ET. For the game in Cincinnati, tickets become available starting Sunday, Oct. 12, at 10am ET. For all three contests, tickets can be purchased through ussoccer.com, by phone at 804-262-8100 (Richmond), 513-562-4949 (Cincinnati) and 813-287-8844 (Tampa), and at all Ticketmaster ticket centers in the metro areas of the three games. Groups of 20 or more can obtain an order form at ussoccer.com or call 312-528-1290.
As a sponsor of US Soccer, Visa® is pleased to offer all Visa cardholders access to an advance ticket sale for these games before the sale to the general public. This advance sale will take place for the games in Richmond and Tampa from Thursday, Oct. 9, at 8am ET until Friday, Oct. 10, at 8am at ussoccer.com. For the game in Cincinnati, the sale will run from Friday, Oct. 10, at 8am ET until Sunday, Oct. 12, at 8am Visa will be the only payment method accepted through the Visa presale and is the preferred card of US Soccer. Terms and conditions apply.
Midfielder Carli Lloyd, who scored the game-winning goal in the championship game on Aug. 21 at Beijing Workers’ Stadium during the dramatic 1-0 overtime victory against Brazil, headlines the roster. Team co-captains Christie Rampone and Kate Markgraf, who solidified the defense that shut out Brazil for the title and goalkeeper Hope Solo, whose stellar play all tournament long, but especially in the gold medal game, will anchor the USA’s defense.
Fifteen of the 18 players from the Olympic roster will travel on the tour, and an additional four players have been added. The USA’s college players – Amy Rodriguez (USC), Tobin Heath (UNC) and Lauren Cheney (UCLA) -- will not be playing due to commitments to their college seasons. Olympic alternates Briana Scurry and midfielder Kacey White were added to the roster for the entire Achieve Your Gold Tour, and they will now be joined by two members of the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup Team in defenders Tina Ellertson and Marian Dalmy, who have come back from pregnancy and injury, respectively.
Hucles, who has 97 caps, will become the 24th player in US history to earn 100 caps if she plays in all three games.
The USA heads into these three games against South Korea with a 29-1-1 record in 2008, having already set the mark for most wins in calendar year in US history. The USA has not lost a domestic game since November of 2006. In fact, the US women have lost just five domestic games this decade, three coming in 2000.
Despite two trips to South Korea in the past three years for the Peace Queen Cup, the US women have not faced the South Koreans since 1999, a 5-0 win in Columbus, Ohio. The USA has played them just three times, winning all three games handily.
UNITED STATES WOMEN’S NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM ROSTER
ACHIEVE YOUR GOLD TOUR
GOALKEEPERS (3): Nicole Barnhart (Bay Area), Hope Solo (St. Louis), Briana Scurry (Dayton, Minn.)
DEFENDERS (8): Rachel Buehler (Bay Area), Lori Chalupny (St. Louis), Stephanie Cox (Los Angeles), Marian Dalmy (Chicago Red Stars), Tina Ellertson (St. Louis), Kate Markgraf (Chicago Red Stars), Heather Mitts (Boston Breakers), Christie Rampone (Sky Blue FC)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Shannon Boxx (Los Angeles), Carli Lloyd (Chicago Red Stars), Heather O’Reilly (Sky Blue FC), Lindsay Tarpley (Chicago Red Stars), Aly Wagner (Los Angeles), Kacey White (Sky Blue FC)
FORWARDS (2): Angela Hucles (Boston Breakers), Natasha Kai (Sky Blue FC)
