With its final three roster cuts made, the women's national team is ready to defend its five-year-running streak of reaching the final at the Cyprus Cup.
It all gets underway Wednesday morning against Switzerland, with matches against Finland on Friday and the Netherlands on Monday to follow. After the jump, Big Red's 22-player roster for the competition:
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GK- Stephanie Labbé | SWE / KIF Örebro DFF
GK- Karina LeBlanc | USA / Portland Thorns FC
GK- Erin McLeod | USA / Chicago Red Stars
CB- Kadeisha Buchanan | CAN / Erin Mills Mighty Eagles U-16
CB- Carmelina Moscato | USA / Chicago Red Stars
CB- Lauren Sesselmann | USA / FC Kansas City
CB- Emily Zurrer | USA / Seattle Reign FC
FB- Melanie Booth | USA / Sky Blue FC
FB- Robyn Gayle | USA / Washington Spirit
FB- Ashley Lawrence | CAN / Erin Mills Mighty Eagles
FB- Chelsea Stewart | USA / UCLA
FB- Rhian Wilkinson | USA / Boston Breakers
M- Jonelle Filigno | USA / Rutgers University
M- Kaylyn Kyle | USA / Seattle Reign FC
M- Diana Matheson | USA / Washington Spirit
M- Christabel Oduro |
M- Sophie Schmidt | USA / Sky Blue FC
M- Desiree Scott | USA / FC Kansas City
M- Brittany Timko |
F- Christina Julien |
F- Adriana Leon | USA / Boston Breakers
F- Christine Sinclair | USA / Portland Thorns FC
Defender Bryanna McCarthy, midfielder Jodi-Ann Robinson and striker Tiffany Cameron were also with the team during its pre-tournament camp, but were the final three cuts ahead of the team's first game. All three are under 25 and have featured for the CanWNT since last summer's Olympics (Robinson actually has 50 caps under her belt for the national team), and are trying to make their case to be a part of head coach John Herdman's rebuilding team ahead of the 2015 Women's World Cup.
But making the cut were a number of relative newbies -- teenagers Ashley Lawrence and Kadeisha Buchanan, a pair of standouts from last year's U17 Women's World Cup, are on board, as are U20 Women's World Cup teammates Adriana Leon and Christabel Oduro. Leon scored her first goal for the senior national team in her first appearance during a tournament in China this January.
With captain Christine Sinclair serving the final game of her four-game suspension (earned for speaking out after last summer's Olympic semifinal) in the Switzerland match, and Melissa Tancredi stepping away from the national team in 2013, it will be interesting to see which youngsters get their shot up front on Wednesday.
The natural choices would seem to be Filigno -- who, at 22, already has two Olympic Games under her belt -- and Julien, who was the last cut ahead of the London Games. But Leon is emerging as one of the program's most promising young players, while veteran Timko is always in the mix as well.
Also of note, midfielder Sophie Schmidt is set to earn her 100th cap for the senior national team on Wednesday, becoming the sixth player on this roster (LeBlanc, Wilkinson, Matheson, Sinclair, Timko) to reach the milestone.
Kickoff is set for 4:30 a.m. PT / 7:30 a.m. ET, though there is no live coverage available. The Canadian Soccer Association will provide live updates on Twitter and video highlights following each of Canada's matches.
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