United States women's national under-18 soccer team

United States under-18
Nickname(s)	Team USA; The Stars and Stripes; The Yanks
Association	United States Soccer Federation
Confederation	CONCACAF (North America)
FIFA code	USA
First colors	Second colors
Pan American Games
Appearances	1 (first in 1999)
Best result	Gold (1999)
Medal record
Pan American Games

The United States U-18 women's national soccer team is a youth soccer team operated under the auspices of U.S. Soccer. Its primary role is the development of players in preparation for the senior women's national team, as well as bridging the development between the two major youth competition levels of the U-17 and the U-20.

History

Between 1998 and 2001, the United States U-18 was active as the primary youth-level team.^[1] It was led by Shannon Higgins-Cirovski, the first coach in the team's history, through the middle of 1999 before she left for the Maryland Terrapins soccer team. Jay Hoffman, who served as Higgins-Cirovski's assistant, took charge of the team and led them to a gold medal for the 1999 Pan American Games, the first time the tournament was open to women's teams. Among the U-18 women playing at the 1999 Pan American Games were future senior national team members Cat Whitehill and Hope Solo.^[2]

In 2001, the United States Soccer Federation decided to change the age limit from the U-18 team to U-19. The move was in preparation for FIFA's introduction of the first ever FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship (which has since changed). The team therefore became dormant with only periodic competitions until 2019, when the Federation (under general manager Kate Markgraf) reinstated all youth-level teams in their own right.

Competitive record

Pan American Games

The under-18 team participated and won the inaugural soccer tournament in the 1999 Pan American Games,^[3] while competing against full national teams. These opportunities are a consequence of holding the FIFA Women's World Cup in the same year as the Pan American Games.