April 29, 2008
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
University of Maryland women's soccer players Yewande Balogun, Lydia Hastings and Sade Ayinde have once again been invited to attend US Youth National Camps.
Goalkeeper Yewande Balogun was invited for the third time into a US U20 national camp. Balogun unfortunately was not able to attend the camp as she was still recovering from the broken foot she suffered last fall against Virginia. Forward Lydia Hastings and forward/defender Sade Ayinde were called into their second consecutive US U18 national camp. The U18 camp runs from May 3-10th in Sunrise, Fla. Ayinde will attend the camp, while Hastings has chosen not attend so that she can focus on preparing for final exams at Maryland, which begin one week later.
During the February US U18 national camp, Hastings lead the team in scoring, compiling three goals and an assist in two games played as a forward; while Ayinde scored one of the team's four goals en route to a 4-2 victory over UCLA. Ayinde played in three of four games as a left back during the February camp.
"The three of them are quite talented," said Maryland head coach Brian Pensky. "We just feel badly that Yewande wasn't healthy enough to attend the U20 camp. She belongs there - we know that, she knows that. And Lydia's decision not to attend is a sign of her maturity. You don't see too many kids turning down national camps for academic reasons. She is in The Clark School of Engineering here at Maryland, a very demanding degree program, and Lydia is able to see the `big picture,' and we're proud of her for that. And in Sade's case, her family had to work some magic to have the date changed for one of her high school AP exams so that she could attend the camp; otherwise Sade would be staying home to take care of her academics as well."
