The women's national team will reconvene for the first time since their bronze-medal triumph at the London Olympics next week, when the team assembles in Vancouver for a week-long training camp (Dec. 12-20) in preparation for a four nations' tournament in China in January.
But it'll be a much different women's national team indeed -- head coach John Herdman has met with U20 head coach Andrew Olivieri and U17 head coach Bryan Rosenfeld in the past several months to discuss a road map for the women's program heading into the 2014 U20 Women's World Cup and 2015 Women's World Cup, both being hosted on Canadian soil.
To that end, there'll be a decent selection of fresh faces at next week's camp.
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The 27-player roster breaks down as follows:
Members of London Olympic roster
Melanie Booth
Kaylyn Kyle
Karina LeBlanc
Erin McLeod
Carmelina Moscato
Sophie Schmidt
Desiree Scott
Lauren Sesselmann
Christine Sinclair
Melissa Tancredi
Brittany Timko
Emily Zurrer
Members of Canada's team at 2012 U20 Women's World Cup
Sabrina D'Angelo
Adriana Leon
Christabel Oduro
Jenna Richardson
Shelina Zadorsky
Members of Canada's team at 2012 U17 Women's World Cup
Kadeisha Buchanan
Summer Clarke
Ashley Lawrence
Nichelle Prince
Returning players with previous CanWNT experience
Tiffany Cameron
Alyssa Lagonia
Brooke McCalla
Bryanna McCarthy
Alyscha Mottershead
Jodi-Ann Robinson
It would be dangerous to get complacent after the pleasant surprise of an Olympic medal, so it's good to see Herdman mixing things up. At the same time, this shouldn't be considered "the team" going forward, not by any stretch of the imagination. A few regulars are taking time to rest and pursue other things, while others were just subject to the numbers game, being left out this time so Herdman could get a fuller view of what's available at his disposal in the years ahead.
As it relates to the youth players called up, there are no major surprises. D'Angelo enters camp (and likely the four nations tournament) as a capable third goalkeeper behind McLeod and LeBlanc; Buchanan and Zadorsky are central defenders; Lawrence is a playmaking central midfielder, while Oduro and Prince can be used as offence-minded midfielders; Leon, Richardson and Clarke are there to find the back of the net.
Cameron is a forward who represented Canada at the inaugural U17 Women's World Cup in 2008. She went on to play at Ohio State, where she became the Buckeyes' all-time leading goal scorer.
Lagonia is one of the few Canadians plying her trade in England; the attacking midfielder was named Canadian University Player of the Year in 2011 and is now with Doncaster Rovers Belles.
McCalla has racked up seven caps for the senior national team during 2010 and 2011, and was also an alternate for the 2011 Women's World Cup.
McCarthy played for Canada's U17 and U20 teams, and has collected four caps with the senior national team in the last three years.
Mottershead was also a member of Canada's squad at the inaugural U17 Women's World Cup. She made her debut with the senior national team last November in a friendly, and was named to the Olympic qualifying squad this January as a fill-in for the injured Diana Matheson.
Robinson is the most experienced of the non-Olympic crew, having amassed 50 appearances for the senior national team, including playing for Canada at both the 2007 and 2011 Women's World Cups.
The encouraging thing is that all six of these players are 23 or younger, meaning there is definite potential for one or several of them to make significant contributions going forward.