She's a 'Keeper

The U.S. team had a very special guest at training today in Ashlyn Harris, the starting goalkeeper for the USA at both the 2002 and 2004 FIFA Under-19 Women's World Cups. (Harris is spending a month in California just chill-axin' -- it's what we do in California -- before she heads into the college season at UNC in the fall). In fact, Ashlyn played every minute of all 12 games during those tournaments, and was the youngest player on the field at age 16 when the USA defeated Canada to win the 2002 tournament in front of almost 50,000 shocked Canadians in Edmonton. Of course, also on the field that glorious day were current U.S. Women's National Team players Lori Chalupny, Heather O'Reilly and Lindsay Tarpley (above) as well as Leslie Osborne. From 2001-2004, Harris was arguably the best young goalkeeper in the world, but the last four or so years have been seen a difficult road as (long story short) she has been beset by injuries, including two torn ACLs. She finally got on the college soccer field for the first time during the NCAA Tournament in 2006 and helped UNC to the title. She is currently on the mend, looking strong and still has two years of eligibility remaining with the Tar Heels. With the new pro league on the horizon as well as the next Women's World Cup not until 2011, we are betting that Harris will once again wear the colors of her country at some point in the future.