(L-R) Christine Nairn, Ashley Spivey and Riley Barger will bring National Teams experience to ASA Chesapeake Charge. Photos courtesy of ASA Chesapeake Charge

Women's Soccer News: ASA Chesapeake Charge Add U.S. National Team Members to 2012 WPSL Elite League Roster

ASA Chesapeake Charge have announced the addition of three players with U.S. National Team experience to their 2012 Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) Elite League roster. Current U.S. Women’s National Team and U.S. U-23 National Team member Christine Nairn and U.S. U-18 National Team members Ashley Spivey and Riley Barger will suit up for the Maryland team as they take on former Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) teams and current WPSL sides in the new league, which opens play on Thursday, May 10.

The WPSL Elite League includes three teams with WPS experience: Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars (who also played in the WPSL in 2011 and finished second in the league) and 2011 WPS Champion Western New York Flash. The league also features WPSL teams ASA Chesapeake Charge, FC Indiana, New England Mutiny and New York Fury. Independent Philadelphia Fever fills out the eight-team league.

Nairn, a former standout at Penn State, is a current member of the U.S Women’s National teams at the U-23 and Senior level. At Penn State she was a member of the All-Big Ten first team in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Nairn has seen success everywhere she goes, and was a member of the FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup Championship in 2008. Nairn broke onto the scene in 2008 with the National Team and was the youngest player in training camp. It didn’t take long before she made her presence known when  she scored her first goal against Canada in a 1-0 win on July 22, 2009.

“We are very excited to have a player of Christine’s talent for the 2012 season,” said Charge GM Patrick Crawford. “In a season where we are stepping up in competition, she will make a huge diffenrence in her play and her leadership. We feel like we have built a great core from last year’s team, and adding a player like Christine will only make us better. We will continue to buile a product that our community is proud of.”

Maryland natives Spivey and Barger bring both youth and talent to the Charge. “We are very excited to add local talents Ashley and Riley to our 2012 roster. They will both play above their years. We are looking for both of them to step right in and be productive member of our team,”  said Crawford.

Spivey and Barger have more than their National Team experience in common, and the two will be seeing  a lot of each other in the next few years. Not only will they play this summer for the Charge, they will also both be playing in the fall for the nationally ranked University of Maryland women’s soccer program.

Spivey’s achievements on the pitch speak for themselves. TopDrawerSoccer.com ranked her the No. 6 overall recruit in the nation, the No. 1 in the Mid Atlantic and the No. 2 central midfielder. She has also been a two-time ESPN Rise Best Player in Maryland, a two-time Baltimore Sun Player of the Year and a two-time Maryland Gatorade Player of the Year. Spivey finished her high school career with 78 goals and 59 assists while leading the McDonogh High School Eagles to two state championships. She has also been recongnized for her leadership qualities.

In addition to her current position on the U-18 team, Spivey has been in National Team pools since her U-14 days. She was part of the U-17 World Cup Qualifying Team in Costa Rica in 2010 and played with the Nordic Cup Champions in Denmark in 2009.

 Barger is a very exciting midfileder who helped lead her Bryn Mawr High School team to three conference championships. She also led  the Mawrtians in scoring all four years as the team’s captain, finishing with 47 goals and 61 assists. Barger is a four-time Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland (IAAM) Conference All-Star, a two-time Baltimore Sun First Team All-Metro honoree, and received the Senior Excellence award from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA).

 Barger  helped her club team, Freestate Soccer Alliance, to six Maryland state championships and was a top scorer in ECNL action. She was also invited to the 2011 U.S. U-18Women's National Team training camp.

About the ASA Chesapeake Charge: ASA Chesapeake Charge is the Maryland bay area member of the 2012 Women's Premier Soccer League's Elite league. As an East Region Finalist in 2011 the team is committed to bringing top quality women's soccer to the area and to providing quality family entertainment to supporters.  Charge’s goal is to enable real progression for players from youth to senior teams, and for full involvement in the community at large.

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