Dipping Toes in International Waters

Goalkeeper Toni Ernst earned USA game MVP honors as the USA Women's Junior National team concluded a weeklong training camp in Poland with a 33-11 defeat at the hands of the Polish U21 National Team.

Ernst stopped 20 of 33 shots in a defensive first half, as the USA stayed close to Poland through halftime, trailing 13-5. Showing the effects of three games in less than three days, the USA could not rally in the second half. Jen Haubrich led all USA scorers again and was honored as the team's Outstanding Player during the tournament. The 24-year-old Haubrich now returns to Grenzach, Germany where she is not quite midway through her first season in the German Regionaliga.

It was the first international experience for several of the team's 15 players. Exposed to the size, speed and technique of some of the top women's players in the world, the USA players were motivated and inspired to narrow the gap between us and them.

The squad's teenagers return to high schools from Reykjavik to Munich to Colorado Springs. Circle Julia Sayer, who impressed USA coaches in her first stint with the national team, returns to her Oberliga squad in Germany. Several U.S. college students fly back on Monday to classes at the University of North Carolina and Furman University.