US women’s team to play Mexico at Blackbaud Stadium on Oct. 23

The team USA will come to Charleston a day after they play Australia on Oct. 16 in Fullerton, Calif. While in Charleston, the team will train at Patriots Point Athletics Complex in Mt. Pleasant.

Tickets for the USA-Mexico game range in price from $18 to $38 and are on sale online at ussoccer.com, at Ticketmaster outlets (including Publix), at the Blackbaud Stadium Box Office and by phone (843-554-6060). Groups of 15 or more can call U.S. Soccer at 312-528-1290 or obtain a group order form at ussoccer.com.

The roster features all of the USA’s active veteran players, including 2004 Olympic gold medallists Heather Mitts, Cat Reddick, Shannon Boxx, Aly Wagner, Angela Hucles, Kristine Lilly, Kate Markgraf and Abby Wambach. In addition, forward Tiffeny Milbrett returns from a six-week stint with Swedish club Sunanna SK, while the USA’s leading scorer this year, Christie Welsh (seven goals, one assist) and third-leading scorer Danielle Fotopoulos (four goals) were also named to the roster. Rounding out a talented and dynamic group of forwards is two-time Olympian and three-time Women’s World Cup participant Shannon MacMillan, the USA’s sixth all-time leading scorer with 60 career goals.

Newcomers to the roster are midfielder Stacey Tullock and defender Nancy Augustyniak, both impact players in the WUSA and both uncapped. Augustyniak, a former Clemson University star will return to South Carolina where she was an All-American with the Tigers. She spent some time in Germany playing with Turbine Potsdam (2004) and most recently Wolfsburg, while also winning an amateur national title with FC Indiana of the Women’s Premier Soccer League this past summer.

It will be the USA’s first visit to South Carolina since February 2003 and the first visit to the southern part of the United States since July 2004. Both of the USA’s previous matches in South Carolina have been played at Blackbaud Stadium. The USA and Mexico previously met at the quaint facility, home of the United Soccer Leagues First Division’s Charleston Battery, with the USA coming out with a rain-drenched 7-0 win at the beginning of 2002. The USA also defeated Iceland there in February of 2003 on a first-minute goal from Mia Hamm.

The U.S. women are undefeated under new head coach Greg Ryan, going 7-0-0 in 2005 and have yet to surrender a goal this year. The USA’s eight-game shutout streak stretches back to the final game of 2004, a 5-0 win over Mexico at the HDC, and now stands at 748 total minutes (which includes the final 28 minutes of the previous match against Denmark).

The USA has played Mexico 11 times since 2000, the year after Mexico made history by qualifying for the 1999 Women’s World Cup to become the first Spanish-speaking country to qualify for the biggest tournament in women’s soccer.

The Mexican women shocked Canada, and the world, by defeating the Maple Leafs in qualifying for the 2004 Olympics to earn a berth in their second women’s world championship. Mexico even advanced out of group play in Greece, but fell to a powerful Brazilian team in the quarterfinals.

Mexican head coach Leo Cuellar, a former Mexican National Team player and captain, has led the Mexican women to unprecedented heights in the last six years, using a quality mix of Mexico-born and U.S.-based players to form a team that has risen to 25^th in the FIFA Women’s World Rankings, a remarkable feat considering the Mexican Women’s National Team was almost non-existent prior to 1998.

Mexico played its best game ever against the USA in Olympic qualifying in Costa Rica in March 2004, going up 2-0 early on the Americans before the U.S. team stormed back for a 3-2 victory.

The USA last faced Mexico in the farewell match for legends Julie Foudy, Mia Hamm and Joy Fawcett, on Dec. 8, 2004, during the 5-0 win that started the shutout streak. Prior to that game, Mexico had played the USA close in the five previous matches, although the USA has won all 15 games between the two teams.