NWSL leading goalscorer Ashley Sanchez will return to the United States women's national team for the first time in nearly two years next week as the Americans prepare for a pair of high-profile friendly matches against world No. 1 Spain.
Sanchez has scored 20 goals for the North Carolina Courage this season, tying the league's single-season scoring record with four games left to play.
She last appeared in a USWNT match in October 2024 and was last called into a training camp in January 2025.
"Ashley's had an extraordinary season, not just in terms of the number of goals she's scored, but consistency in her performance," Hayes said.
Defender Naomi Girma and midfielder Sam Coffey also return to USWNT camp, having each last played for the USWNT in April. However, Hayes said on Tuesday that Girma picked up "a knock in training" and may need to be replaced.
Coffey underwent a minor knee procedure in May. Gotham FC playmaker Jaedyn Shaw is a surprising omission by USWNT head coach Emma Hayes.
Shaw has nine goals and five assists this season for Gotham, who leads the NWSL.
Shaw and Ally Sentnor will join the U23 USWNT for a simultaneous training camp in Atlanta next week, Hayes said. Hayes said that is part of each player's "prescribed journey" and that there is competition within their positions.
"They're still central to our plans," Hayes said of Shaw and Sentnor.
Hayes also called in three players for the first time: versatile fullback Evelyn Shores and forwards Trinity Byars and Pietra Tordin.
Uncapped goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz also joins the 26-player roster for the matches.
"We're not choosing easy. That's the first thing," Hayes told reporters. "I've said it many times. We want the hard path. We want these games, this preparation. We welcome it. We invite it. It brings the best out of us. And I know our group well enough to know that they are looking forward at least to the Spain games to test ourselves against the very best."
"While we are very much looking forward to playing the World Cup champions, I keep coming back to the journey that we are all on together," Hayes said in a statement.
"This camp will be about reestablishing connections after a long break, looking at a few players who haven't been with us this cycle, and putting on the best performances we can in front of packed stadiums. Of course, our dual focus will also be on our final preparations for the World Cup qualifying tournament."
The upcoming pair of matches on Oct. 10 (Audi Field, Washington, D.C.) and Oct. 13 (Subaru Park, Chester, Penn.) will pit the world's top two teams against each other for the first time since October 2022, when Spain defeated the USWNT 2-0 in Pamplona.
Spain is the reigning World Cup champion, and the United States is the reigning Olympic champion.
The USWNT has played 17 matches featuring the world's top two teams and has not lost (11-0-6) in any of them.
This is the first such situation in which Spain is the opponent. Spain enters the game having already qualified for the 2023 World Cup after recent victories over England and Iceland to clinch a berth.
The USWNT must still qualify for the 2027 World Cup at the Concacaf W Championship in November. Sanchez and the four uncapped players have been rewarded for stellar form with their NWSL teams.
Byars has scored 10 goals in 21 games after catching fire this summer for the San Diego Wave.
Tordin has seven goals and nine assists while playing multiple roles for the Portland Thorns.
Shores has been steady for Angel City FC as a left fullback but has played in multiple roles for the U23 USWNT.
Silkowitz leads the NWSL in save percentage (79.3%) for a young Bay FC team that has struggled. Sanchez marks the most high-profile return to the roster given the emphasis that Hayes has placed on club form since she took the head-coaching job in late 2023.
Sanchez was a regular standout with the youth national teams as a teenager and made her first senior World Cup roster in 2023.
She was expected to play an important role at that World Cup but did not play a single minute.
Six months later, the Washington Spirit traded Sanchez to the North Carolina Courage, a transaction that she said at the time left her "shocked and heartbroken."
Sanchez typically played in central attacking roles throughout her career, but this year, new Courage head coach Mak Lind moved Sanchez to the wing.
She has four assists to go with 20 goals -- more than the first five seasons of her career combined.
"Her stage of her career, I'm sure she doesn't want to waste the opportunities in front of her. The experience that she has - this is a player that was always tipped for great things as a youth national team player. So, I'm happy to see her fulfilling her potential. And now it's about the step up to the senior level."
Forward Mallory Swanson also returns to the USWNT roster.
She joined the squad for a pair of friendly matches away against Brazil in June, but she did not play in either match.
Those games were played only a few weeks after Swanson returned from maternity leave.
Swanson last played for the USWNT in the gold-medal match of the 2024 Olympics, which the Americans won. She scored the only goal in the 1-0 win over Brazil in the final. Several players who made the trip to Brazil during the last international window are not on this USWNT roster to face Spain.
Goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn; defender Emily Sonnett; midfielders Croix Bethune, Olivia Moultrie and Riley Jackson; and forwards Shaw and Sentnor are all absent from this roster after making the trip to Brazil.
Bethune has missed several games recently with a hip injury, while Sonnett and Moultrie sustained major knee injuries this summer.
Sentnor, like Shaw, is healthy and playing in the NWSL.
U.S. Women's National Team Roster by Position (Club; Caps/Goals) 2026 October Matches vs. Spain
GOALKEEPERS (3): Claudia Dickey (Seattle Reign FC; 11), Jordan Silkowitz (Bay FC; 0), Phallon Tullis-Joyce (Manchester United, ENG; 7)
DEFENDERS (8): Tierna Davidson (Gotham FC; 70/3), Emily Fox (Arsenal FC, ENG; 78/1), Naomi Girma (Chelsea FC, ENG; 54/2), Avery Patterson (Houston Dash; 14/1), Lilly Reale (Boston Legacy FC; 9/0), Tara Rudd (Washington Spirit; 12/0), Gisele Thompson (Angel City FC; 11/0), Kennedy Wesley (San Diego Wave FC; 7/1)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Sam Coffey (Manchester City FC, ENG; 46/5), Lindsey Heaps (Denver Summit FC; 178/40), Claire Hutton (Bay FC; 20/1), Rose Lavelle (Gotham FC; 122/29), Evelyn Shores (Angel City FC; 0/0), Mallory Swanson (Chicago Stars; 103/38), Lily Yohannes (OL Lyonnes, FRA; 20/1)
FORWARDS (8): Trinity Byars (San Diego Wave FC; 0/0), Michelle Cooper (Kansas City Current; 14/1), Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit; 57/13), Emma Sears (Racing Louisville FC; 21/6), Ashley Sanchez (North Carolina Courage; 28/3), Pietra Tordin (Portland Thorns FC; 0/0), Alyssa Thompson (Chelsea FC, ENG; 32/4), Sophia Wilson (Portland Thorns FC; 63/25)
