Rest and pregnancy have left the U.S. Women’s National team without any Coloradans for its match in Commerce City next week.
USWNT coach Emma Hayes revealed the 25-woman roster for the June 26 friendly at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park against the Republic of Ireland on Wednesday morning, which did not include star Colorado natives Mallory Swanson (née Pugh), Sophia Wilson (née Smith) or Lindsey Heaps (née Horan).
Wilson and Swanson announced they were pregnant in March and May, respectively, which will keep them off the field until 2026. Heaps, who plays in France for one of the world’s best women’s teams in Olympique Lyon, is taking the summer international window to rest after a packed European season ended a month ago. She helped Lyon walk to a domestic title and a Champions League semifinal.
The other Colorado native who had a shot at a call-up was Gotham FC midfielder Jaelin Howell. She has five total caps with the national team, but has not featured since 2022. Last week, she scored her first career NWSL regular-season goal against the Utah Royals, but also earned a red card in the same match.
Like Heaps, the majority of European-based players won’t participate in favor of rest, aside from Chelsea defender and USWNT staple Naomi Girma. The rest of the roster plays in the NWSL, which Denver will join with an expansion franchise in 2026.
The USWNT roster consists of four new call-ups and six players who have not capped for the senior team. In total, 19 of the 25 players have fewer than 10 caps for the senior national team.
“We want to continue to improve our understanding of how we want to play and widen the player pool, and those are some of the key goals of this three-game window,” Hayes in a U.S. Soccer news release. “On this roster, we have players with a varied amount of experience, and my priority is to deepen the exposures required for international soccer. These are three challenging matches and, as always, we want to win, but also to make sure we are ready for the next steps.”
Hayes made her debut as the USWNT head coach at DSGP last year in a 4-0 rout of Korea Republic before the team won gold at the 2024 Olympics. The team is undefeated in eight matches in Commerce City, winning all but one — a 3-all draw to Japan in 2016.
A USWNT spokesperson said less than 1,000 tickets remain available for the match, set to kick off at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 26. Last year, a standing-room-only crowd of 19,010 packed DSGP, which lists its normal capacity a hair above 18,000.
The U.S. has faced the Republic of Ireland 15 times and has never lost.
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