Three Players From The American Named to 2024 US Women’s U20 National Team Training Camp Roster
Three standouts from the American Athletic Conference were among the 32 lacrosse players who have been invited to a June training camp for the 2024 U.S. Women’s U20 National Team. The camp will be held at USA Lacrosse Headquarters in Sparks, Maryland, from June 19-21.
James Madison had attack Maddie Epke and defender Ava Bleckley receive invitations, while Florida was represented by by defender Kaitlyn Davies.
The 32 players are a combination of players named to the initial training team last summer and additional players that participated in the tryout process. The staff continued to evaluate players throughout the 2024 college and high school seasons and also made adjustments based on injuries to training team members. The U20 team is coached by Northwestern head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller.
Epke finished her sophomore season with 57 goals and 23 assist for 80 points, ranking fourth in The American in goals (2.85 gpg). Bleckley was the 2024 American Freshman of the Year after she led the Dukes and ranked second in the conference with 31 caused turnovers.
Davies was a standout defender for a Florida squad that won The American’s regular-season and tournament titles and reached the NCAA Championship semifinals. She had 13 ground balls, 15 draw controls and eight caused turnovers in 2024.
This is the first time the U20 players will be together since the Fall Classic last October when they swept Canada and Northwestern in a pair of games.
Following the June training camp, a total of 22 players (the maximum final roster size permitted by World Lacrosse) will be invited to a training camp at Northwestern University from July 18-20. The team will then have one final brief camp in Northern California in August before heading to Hong Kong, China for the 2024 World Lacrosse Women’s U20 Championship from August 15-24.