Angie Woznuk

Sundhage must have been impressed. She invited Woznuk back for the January camp and selected her for the Four Nations Tournament where she earned her second and third caps (her first came way back in July of 2005), scored a goal, and kept herself in the mix for the Olympic roster.

Woznuk touched base with Fair Game just hours before she boarded a plane for the long flight to China.

Are you excited to make the trip to China to play in the Four Nations Tournament with the full team?

I’m super excited. You never know who is really going to make it because everybody is good here.

Did you have a good feeling about your chances? Did you feel like you showed well in camp?

It was off and on. At this level I think it’s really tough to be super consistent and everybody is just so good and you don’t really know what the coach is looking for. As far as personally, I did pretty good, not great.

What do you think of Pia so far?

I like her a lot. It’s only my second camp with her. So far I think she’s great. I really like her philosophy of soccer. I’m excited to hopefully work with her more.

Are you starting to get a good feel for what she is looking for?

She is pretty good at communicating what she is looking for and making it clear that it’s going to take a lot of effort from all of us.

How do you think your game fits in with her style?

I’m a player who typically possesses the ball more. I’m obviously not a big person so it’s not like I’m one of those ball winners or anything like that. One of her main focuses right now is possession. I think I do that, so I’m hoping that works to my advantage.

You touched on your size, how do you keep it from being a disadvantage as you move into the international game?

It’s been an issue my entire life. Every team, especially with the national teams I’ve been on, it’s always been an issue. From past experience, I’ve just learned that my technical ability has to be good. The only way I try to avoid having to tackle a whole lot is by playing quickly. Usually that is a positive on my side, just playing a one/two touch as opposed to holding for a longer period of time and asking to get tackled. Usually my role on a team is as a playmaker and hopefully I can continue that at this level.

What is on your agenda after China?

We come back to camp for two weeks on February 1st.

Tell us a little bit about your senior season at Portland.

I was actually surprised at how well our season turned out as a whole. We had tons of injuries, not even just Megan and Rachael Rapinoe. I remember there was a period of time where it seemed like at every practice, new people were going down with injuries. At one time I think we were training with eight healthy people and we were freaking out because we didn’t even have 11. Considering that, I thought especially our freshmen did a great job of stepping it up and helping us make it as far as we did. That will benefit them in future years.

What was Sophie Schmidt’s impact on the team when she came back from her run with the Canadian National Team at the World Cup?

I love Sophie. When she came into Portland and even when she came back from the World Cup we thought she was going to be our holding center mid and it turned out that Rachael Rapinoe came down with an ACL injury and so we tried her up top and I thought she was phenomenal up there. She’s a big body that can hold people off and can be a person that we can play into, but she’s also technical so she really completed our offense in a sense. She and Michele Enyeart complimented one another. I think she showed even her National Team coach some more of her ability.

Are you aspiring to make the Olympic team? Do you think you have a shot?

It’s hard to say. I hope I do. I think it is only a benefit for me to have made it for this tournament to give me a little bit more of a showing. I guess you just never know unless you’re just so good.

What’s it like being on the edge of making it? You’ve knocked on the door before ...

Yeah, starting like two and a half years ago, I think. I’ve almost gotten used to it. It’s been a major growing process for me. I was in residency two years ago and I think that was kind of an eye opener. It kind of taught me how much more you need to do to make it at this level, fitness wise, technically. It really taught me a lot and so I think coming back this year, I feel more prepared. I know what’s to come. I’m thankful that I was able to knock on the door so much earlier.

Are you as nervous now as you were then?

No, especially because I now know the girls so much better. That makes a big difference. One of my good friends from the youth national teams is Becky Sauerbrunn and it’s her first time in and she made it to China. We played together starting when we were 15 years old and did everything up through Thailand (FIFA U-19 World Championship) together so it’s really nice to have her here.

With only the two quick camps together, has the team had enough time to build any chemistry?

It’s been a little too short of a camp to build chemistry. I’m hoping that since we’re going so early to China that maybe we’ll be able to do that before the first game comes. Now that it’s down to us 20, I feel like it might be a little easier.