By Tim Grainey

Soccer 365 talked to Georgetown University senior midfielder Ingrid Wells, a member of the 2008 U-20 World Champions in Chile, who was called into her first full national team camp in Arizona ahead of the November 19 friendly match with Sweden, at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.

Wells was able to attend the camp because Georgetown was surprisingly left out of the 64 team NCAA tournament, which begins this weekend. Georgetown made the quarterfinals last year where they were defeated by Ohio State, who made the College Cup semifinals. Georgetown’s final 2011 record was 15-6-0, including an 8-4 mark in the Big East Conference. Despite a win over defending champion Notre Dame late in the season (the Irish were selected with a uncharacteristic 10-7-3 record) Georgetown’s loss to West Virginia in the Big East semifinals, along with only four wins against teams with a winning record, nullified their RPI of 40 with the tournament selection committee.

The University of Portland was selected with a 9-9-1 record but the Pilot’s strength of schedule was critical, as that typically is more important than the total number of wins in the selection decision for women’s soccer. The West Coast Conference Pilots defeated ACC Champion Florida State, Washington State and Oregon State of the Pac-12. Ohio State, with an RPI of 55 and a 10-8-2 record, also made the tournament. Of course then there is the University of Montana, who won the Big Sky Tournament and its automatic bid with a 6-11-4 record. The Grizzlies reward: an opening round match with #1 Stanford, who has yet to lose this season (19-0-1).

Dave Nolan, a native of Ireland but who played collegiately at Seton Hall, has been at Georgetown for 13 years, eight as head coach, but the Hoyas are a recent newcomer to the ranks of top programs on the East Coast. About five years ago, Georgetown did not offer scholarships for women’s soccer but now has 12, allowing it to compete for top quality talent, such as Upper Montclair, New Jersey native Ingrid Wells.

Wells said that her introduction to the national team was, “a great honor and that all of the players were very welcoming and friendly.” She also felt comfortable that she was joining alumni from her U-20 World Cup winning team, including Alex Morgan, Keelin Winters, Becky Edwards and fellow college senior Sydney Leroux of UCLA, “and that made it a lot easier.” Reflecting back on that U-20 championship triumph, Wells described it as “cool” and “my best experience in soccer.” She added that it was “crazy that it is now three years [since that trip.]

Turning to her time with the national team, Wells said that she was learning a lot, “The speed of play is different; you have to know what you’re going to do when you get the ball, it’s so much faster.” Having red-shirted her sophomore year to play in Chile, she will graduate next month and is very interested in playing professionally. Joining WPS is her first choice, but if she did play abroad, Germany is appealing to her, as her mother used to live there.

Soccer 365 also talked to U.S. National Team central defender Rachel Buehler, who provided some insight on the new 4-2-3-1 formation that head coach Pia Sundhage implemented this fall, replacing the 4-4-2 lineup that has long been a standard for the side. Buehler explained that the new formation is “interesting from a defensive perspective.” Though not a radical change for the backline, which still comprising four across, Buehler says that, “There is more mobility for the two outside backs, supporting the two flank midfielders at times in attack.” She also saw some variance, in terms of the way, “the two in front of us operate [holding midfielders], than when the midfield had four across.”

Though the team is working on these differences, Buehler did not find it as much of a shift as if the team had adapted a sweeper role in the back (one defender behind two or three defenders playing higher up the field). For the forwards, she felt that the new formation was an exciting change as the front four can interchange more, “We have a lot of players in attack who can play different positions, so we can be less predictable.”

Buehler did not see the new formation as necessarily emphasizing more wing play than in the past; rather she saw that it will allow the U.S. to have more creative play and possess the ball more, which has been a key ingredient of the team’s success under Pia Sundhage, including the 2008 Olympic Gold Medal and 2011 Women’s World Cup runners-up spot. With a solid and experienced defense including: Buehler (66 caps), Stephanie Cox (77 caps), Ali Krieger (25 caps), Amy LePeilbet (56 caps), Heather Mitts (117 caps) and Christie Rampone (243 caps), along with a strong crop of young defenders being groomed such as Becky Sauerbrunn (14 caps) Meghan Klingenberg (2 caps) and Whitney Engen (2 caps), the U.S. rearguard looks very strong as the team targets success in the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifiers in January in Vancouver, B.C. and next summer’s Olympic Games in London.