Wadland is the starting goalkeeper for the Big Green. Douthett was a finalist for the Teewarton trophy, given to the best collegiate lacrosse player, and Willis was an all-American her senior year when she led Dartmouth to the national championship game.
Dartmouth women's lacrosse head coach Amy Patton will continue as the head coach of the U.S. Women's National Developmental Team head coach, a post she has held since 2006. Patton had previously served as an assistant coach from 1998 to 2000.
Dartmouth and Princeton, which has one player named to the squad, are the only two Ivy League schools with players represented in the pool.
The team was named after three days of tryouts on the campus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in Cavonsville, Md.
"We were required to take a fitness test, which was a standard one that a lot of schools use," Wadland said. "At night, we had some full-field scrimmages, and during the day we broke it down into some 8 v. 8 and 5 v. 5 situations, so we did a little bit of everything."
Wadland, Douthett, Willis and Poole were selected from an original pool of 220 players. The original 220 were invited to tryouts at the U.S. Lacrosse Women's Division National Tournament at St. Paul's School in Canton, N.H. Out of the 220, 85 were invited to UMBC and the squad was trimmed to 49. Kat Collins '11 advanced to the second round of tryouts at UMBC, but she did not make the team.
Wadland, who played most of the minutes in goal for the Big Green this past season, will be making her first appearance ever with the national team.
"I was a little surprised when I heard I had made it, but it was definitely exciting," Wadland said. "With the World Cup coming up in 2009 I knew it was going to be selective. My coach told me to go for the experience and not expect too much, but it ended up working out."
Wadland is cherishing the opportunity to see Willis, a former all-American for Dartmouth. While Wadland had the opportunity to be coached by Willis, when she served as an assistant coach, they have never shared the field.
"We've never really played against each other, but she's someone that I looked up to when I was in high school," Wadland said.
The players in the pool will be divided up further into the elite squad and the developmental squad following U.S. Lacrosse's Stars and Stripes weekend, which will be held from October 10-13.
"The developmental team would be great for me and that's where I see myself, but I'll definitely be rooting for Devon to make the World Cup touring team," Wadland said.
Selection for the national team pool was particularly important this year, since the 2009 IFWLA World Cup in Prague, Czech Republic, to be held from June 18-27, 2009, is coming up. The 18 players who will compete there will be announced in January. Three years ago, the Americans lost the World Cup for the first time in nearly 20 years to Australia, so the United States team will be seeking revenge.
The national team is coming off of a strong summer in which it won the Prague Cup in June. Douthett and Willis were both a part of that squad, and Poole was named as an alternate.
Wadland said she was unsure of whether she had aspirations of playing lacrosse past college.
"I haven't really thought about that yet, but I definitely want to keep that option open," Wadland said.
Dartmouth's women's lacrosse team has not yet announced its 2009 schedule.
