Sarah Killion added to USWNT January camp roster

One day after Jill Ellis announced the 29-player list for the United States women’s national team January training camp, she invited one more player into camp—Sky Blue FC’s Sarah Killion.

Killion will join Sky Blue teammate Kelley O’Hara and the rest of the USWNT at U.S. Soccer’s National Training Center in Carson, California from January 12-23. Although the training camp will not conclude with an international friendly, it will serve as a means for Ellis and her coaching staff to train and evaluate players, as well as for players to prepare for March’s SheBelieves Cup tournament.

Killion has been a regular in the Sky Blue starting XI since she was taken as the no. 2 overall pick in the 2015 NWSL College Draft. Last season she started and played every minute of the 18 matches in which she played, sitting out two matches because of an injury. For her 2016 performance with the team, she was awarded the Most Valuable Player in the team’s post-season awards.

The call-up is Killion’s second to the senior national team. She was previously called in 2014 leading into the Algarve Cup, an annual multi-team tournament held in Portugal, but remained uncapped.

“I watched the 99ers, and that was so incredible to be able to look up to them and it was one of those things that, again, deep down in my heart I was like, ‘Ahh, I would love to be out there,’ you know, I would love to be able to represent my country by being a part of a team like that like they did,” Killion told Once a Metro back in September.

Like many of the other uncapped players who were called into the January camp, Killion has extensive experience with in the U.S. youth national team system. She—along with USWNT players Morgan Brian, Crystal Dunn, Julie Johnston, Samantha Mewis and Kealia Ohia and Sky Blue FC teammate Maya Hayes—won the 2012 U-20 Women’s World Cup in Japan.

In 2013, Killion helped UCLA win the first ever NCAA College Cup championship match in program history. She also won two consecutive USL W-League titles in 2013 and 2014 with Pali Blues, a semi-professional team based in California.

Fan of Sky Blue FC and Killion no doubt are pleased with Ellis’ decision to call Killion into camp and are excited to see what the future has in store for her and the USWNT.