UNC Juniors Maddie Dahliasand newly qualified professionals Savy King And Ally Sentnorwill represent the Stars and Stripes in Colombia from August 31 to September 22.
Dahlia is one of 12 college players on the U.S. under-20 roster. Sentnor and King – the No. 1 and No. 2 overall draft picks – are two of eight professionals currently playing in the National Women’s Soccer League. Players born on or after Jan. 1, 2004, are age-eligible for the World Cup.
The USA begins its quest for the gold medal in the 24-team tournament on September 1 with a group match against reigning champions Spain. Team USA is in Group C with Spain, Paraguay and Morocco. The matches will be played in four stadiums in three Colombian cities, with the final at El Campín Stadium in Bogotá.
For more information on the 2024 U-20 World Cup, click here here, and the full schedule can be found here.
Dahlia, King and Sentnor were part of the 2023 Concacaf qualifying squad that secured the USWYNT a spot at the U-20 World Cup. King, who was on the U-17 squad, and Sentnor, who played on the U-20 squad, both have World Cup experience in 2022.
Forward Sentnor goes into the tournament as the USA’s most capped player and top scorer with 16 appearances and nine international goals. Fellow striker Dahlien scored four goals in her eight appearances, while defender King made 12 international appearances.
Dahlia is a creative finisher who is a talented striker. She impressed at the Concacaf U-20 Championship last June, which was only her second tournament with the USWYNT. After not playing in the USA’s opening match, she made her first appearance for the USA against Jamaica and scored a hat trick in her first international match.
Dahlia and Sentnor were the USA’s top scorers in World Cup qualifying with four goals each.
During her sophomore season with the Tar Heels last season, Dahlia appeared in 21 games and started five of them. She finished the year with one goal, three assists and five points in 662 minutes of play, with a goal and an assist coming against Florida State as highlights.
A quick and physical defender, King was one of the country’s best players at the U-17 WYNT level before moving up to the U-20 in 2023. She started all five games at the Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship last June, helping the U.S. to a second-place finish and qualification for the 2024 U-20 World Cup.
King began her freshman season at UNC shortly thereafter, starting all 23 games and leading the team in minutes as a center back with 2,030. She was named to the All-ACC Second Team, ACC All-Freshman Team and United Soccer Coaches All-Atlantic Second Team, and was also named ACC Defensive Player of the Week twice.
A year after captaining the U20 team at the 2022 World Cup, Sentnor played all five games for the Stars and Stripes at the 2023 CONCACAF U20 Women’s Championship, starting four times. She totaled four goals and two assists to lead the United States, which scored a brace in a 5-2 win over Canada to win the group.
Returning to Chapel Hill for her redshirt sophomore season, Sentnor started all 23 games and finished the season with 11 goals, seven assists and 29 points, which were the most points for her team, including four goals and three assists in the NCAA Tournament. She was named ACC Midfielder of the Year and also earned United Soccer Coaches Third Team All-America, All-Atlantic Region First Team and All-ACC First Team honors.
Sentnor (Utah Royals) and King (Bay FC) are currently in their rookie seasons and have earned the No. 1 and No. 2 overall picks, respectively, in the 2024 NWSL Draft. They are the second Tar Heel duo to receive the first and second overall draft picks in UNC history, joining Crystal Dunn (No. 1, Washington Spirit) and Kealia Ohai (No. 2, Houston Dash) in 2014.
US Soccer In the lead up to the selection of the squad for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the team held five training camps, with King participating in all five, Sentnor participating in four and Dahlia participating in three.
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