CHICAGO -- U.S. Under-21 Women's National Team head coach Chris Petrucelli has named a 22-player squad for a training camp to be held from June 21-30 at the U.S. National Team Training Center in Carson, Calif. Hawaii's Natasha Kai earned a spot at the camp, the last training session before Petrucelli names the 18-player team that will travel to Iceland in late July for the 14th Annual Nordic Cup.

The U.S. team will reassemble to train in New Jersey from July 16-18, then depart for Iceland, which will be hosting its second Nordic Cup. The USA won its second of six Nordic Cup titles in Iceland in 1999. Held in Northern Europe every summer, the Nordic Cup is the top competition in the world for U-21 women and the focus of the USA's oldest youth national team during its seven-month run-up to the prestigious competition.

Kai joined the U-21 pool in January and has already gained international experience leading the USA to impressive wins in tours of China and Brazil earlier this spring. Kai leads the team in scoring with seven goals in just eight matches.

The USA was drawn into a tough Group B in the Nordic Cupand will face Finland, Norway and Germany in first-round play. Group A features Sweden, Iceland, Denmark and England. The top two finishers in each group will cross over to play for the championship, while the two second place finishers will play for third, the third place finishers for fifth and the last place finishers in the groups will vie for seventh place.

The USA opens the tournament against the Finland on Friday, July 23, in Akureyrarvolluer, and then faces Norway on Sunday, July 25, in Olafsfjordur. The U.S. will finish first-round play against Germany on Tuesday, July 27, in Dalvik. All four placement matches are set for Thursday, July 29. All the matches will be played at nine different small venues in the northern part of Iceland up around the Arctic Circle.

The USA has won an amazing six out of the last seven Nordic Cups, winning its first in 1997 in Denmark, before falling the next year to Norway in the title game. Since then, the USA has reeled off five straight titles under four different coaches. This will be the second Nordic Cup for Petrucelli, who led the USA to 2-1 victory over Sweden in the 2003 Nordic Cup title game as Joanna Lohman scored both goals.

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