Jan. 21, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Coming off a year in which she guided the Knights to the NCAA Tournament Second Round as well as helped the United States Under-20 Women's Team win the 2008 World Cup, UCF women's soccer head coach Amanda Cromwell is back on the worldwide stage. The leader of the Knights has joined the U.S. Women's National Team as an assistant coach as it looks to claim the Algarve Cup from March 4-11 in southern Portugal.
The Women's National Team is made up of plenty of skilled veterans from the USA's 2007 FIFA World Cup Team and the 2008 Olympic Team. The Americans have already begun a 17-day training camp at the U.S. Soccer National Training Center at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. Head coach Pia Sundhage, along with Cromwell and the rest of the coaching staff, will be evaluating 25 players in the camp in hopes of trimming the roster down to 18.
After the formation of the final roster, the U.S. will take on Denmark, Norway and Iceland in first-round play of the Algarve Cup. Germany, Sweden, Finland and China also will be competing.
This certainly is not the first time Cromwell has tasted life with the U.S. Women's National Team. She served as a player from 1991-98, lifting the USA to third place at the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup and was an alternate on the 1996 gold medal Olympic team after coming back from a serious knee injury.
Throughout the 2008 calendar year, Cromwell put on the Red, White and Blue as an assistant coach for the U.S. U-20 Team as it trained for the World Cup. After qualifying in Mexico during the summer, the Americans traveled to Chile and stormed through the competition, ultimately defeating North Korea in the finals, 2-1.
Cromwell just finished her 10th season with the Knights and took them to their 13th NCAA Tournament, which ranks as the 16th most in the entire country. UCF finished with a 14-6-3 record, with freshman goalkeeper Aline Reis closing out the year by being named the school's first All-American since 1995.
For the latest news on the Knights, log on to UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.