Athlete of the Week: Amy Barczuk

University of Colorado soccer’s Amy Barczuk is playing at the top ranks of the nation and is this week’s CU Independent Athlete of the Week.

The junior defender/midfielder has started and played in all 90 minutes of every one of the team’s nine games this season. She leads the Buffs with seven points and three goals.

Junior defender/midfielder Amy Barczuk (Courtesy)

“Amy is just a stud,” CU head coach Bill Hempen said in Barczuk’s CU Buffs biography. “I don’t know how else to say it. She practices so hard and strives for perfection that there’s no way we can’t have her on the field.”

The U.S. Women’s National Team seems to feel the same way about the Colorado native.

Barczuk and 21 other players, including former Buff Nikki Marshall, have been invited to the under-23 Women’s National Team soccer camp. The standout pro, college and high school players will strut their stuff from Oct. 2 – 7 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

The athletes will practice for U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Pia Sundhage, U.S. Soccer Women’s Development Director Jill Ellis and U.S. Soccer Women’s Technical Director April Heinrichs.

The staff will gauge the players’ abilities and potential for call-ups to the national team camps in preparation for January’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Vancouver, Canada.

Hempen is especially proud of Barczuk’s latest accomplishment.

“Amy’s playing so well right now,” Hempen said in a press release. “I was hoping her play wouldn’t be overshadowed by where we are as a team right now. She totally deserves it because her level of training is as high as it’s ever been for me, and her level of play is certainly reflective of that.”

Contact CU Independent Sports Editor Marlee Horn at Marlee.horn@colorado.edu.