3 Cyberrays Called To National Team

SAN JOSE, CA (December 14, 2001) Three CyberRays, LaKeysia Beene, Thori Bryan and Brandi Chastain, have been called up to the U.S. national team to prepare for its January schedule of four international matches.

They are among 24 players, called up by U.S. coach April Heinrichs, who will enter training camp in Charleston, S.C., beginning Jan. 8. The U.S. team will play Mexico on Jan. 12 in Charleston, after which Heinrichs will cut the roster to 18 players. That squad will travel to Guangzhou, China to play in the Four Nations Women's Tournament Jan. 23-27 against China, Germany and Norway.

All three CyberRays have extensive national team experience.

For Beene, 23, it's the third call-up since the CyberRays won the inaugural WUSA championship Aug. 25 and she was named the league's Goalkeeper of the Year. Beene starred in the United States' 4-1 victory over Germany on Sept. 9 in the NIKE U.S. Women's Cup, the first match of a four-team tournament that was cancelled because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and she participated in the team's Oct. 23-31 training camp at the Arco U.S. Olympic Training Center near San Diego.

Bryan, a 27-year-old defender, the first American chosen in last year's WUSA global draft and the only CyberRays player on the field for every minute of every game in 2001, played for the national team in January on a two-game tour in China.

Chastain, 33, the CyberRays captain, is a long-time national team veteran best known for netting the winning penalty kick in the United States' victory over China in the final of the 1999 Women's World Cup. Along with Beene, she was named to the WUSA Global 11 first team last season.

Heinrichs also called up six other players with Bay Area connections: ex-Santa Clara star Kylie Bivens of the Atlanta Beat, Los Altos native Lorrie Fair of the Philadelphia Charge, former Cal player Joy Fawcett of the San Diego Spirit, former Stanford star Julie Foudy of the Spirit, and two players from Santa Clara's 2001 NCAA championship team, Danielle Slaton and Aly Wagner.

[Source:  CyberRays,  info@sjcyberrays.com]