San Diego, Calif. – Christi Yount, an Aztecs women's soccer keeper from 2005-08, has been named to U.S. Soccer's Women's Beach Soccer Team and will compete for the United States in the inaugural CONCACAF Women's Beach Soccer Tournament.
In her Aztec career, Yount made 16 starts in 20 appearances and posted an 8-7-2 record with six clean sheets. In a total of 1,607 minutes, she had a 1.23 goals against average (GAA) and a save percentage of .750. In 2005, her freshman campaign, Yount posted a 1.09 GAA, which at the time was the lowest ever recorded by an SDSU freshman, and in the 2008 season, the Mission Viejo native, earned a Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week honor.
"This is a tremendous honor for Christi," Aztec women's soccer head coach Mike Friesen said. "In representing our country and our program, she shows our players that if you work hard and compete every day, you can reach lofty heights in our sport. We wish her great success and will be following the team and rooting for them."
CONCACAF, the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for football and will host the event in El Salvador from August 3-6.
The tournament for the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) World Beach Games will feature four teams which include Mexico, El Salvador, and the Bahamas in addition to the United States. The U.S. will face Mexico on Aug. 3, El Salvador on Aug. 4 and the Bahamas on Aug. 5. Only the group winner advances to the ANOC World Beach Games to be staged in Qatar from Oct. 12-16.
The qualifying competition for the World Beach Games was added to the U.S. schedule in June after the event was officially moved from San Diego to Qatar in May. The change in venue requires the U.S. team to qualify for the tournament finals since the USA was no longer serving as host. The event gives U.S. Soccer the opportunity to provisionally field a Women's Beach National Team in an official world championship for the first time.
The 10-player squad features eight field players and two goalkeepers. Women's beach soccer features four field players and a goalkeeper with three 12-minute periods and unlimited substitutions on the fly.