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US Under-21 Team To take on Spain

Results

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The U.S. Field Hockey Women's Under-21 Team begins its preparations for April's Pan American Championships with a four game series against Spain's Junior National Team, March 14 - 19 in Sabadell, Spain.

      Directed by head coach Tracey Griesbaum, the team is scheduled to take on Spain in games March 14, 16, 17 and 19 in the town just outside of Barcelona.

      The 18-member Under-21 team features a combination of collegiate stars and high school standouts including college All-Americans Jessica Coleman (Univ. of Virginia; Oceanport, NJ), Maegan Galie (Penn State Univ., Collegeville, Pa), Melanie Meerschwam (Princeton, Univ; Amstelveen, The Netherlands), Keli Smith (Univ. of Maryland; Selinsgove, Pa.), Robyn Kenney (Boston University; Readington, N.J.) and Carla Tagliente (Univ. of Maryland; Cortland, N.Y.). Tagliente is also a member of the U.S. National squad.

      Other collegiate players on the team included Big-10 Freshman of the Year Tiffany Leister (Univ. of Iowa, Oley, Pa.), Regional All-Americans Autumn Welsh (Macungie, Pa.) and Dina Rizzo of the National Champion University of Maryland, University of North Carolina Regional All-American Carrie Lingo (Rehoboth Beach, Del.) and her Tarheel teammates Abbey Wooley (Ocena City, NJ) and Amy Tran (Grantville, Pa.), Syracuse University goalkeeper Audrey Latsko, Penn State freshman defender Jill Martz (Danville, Pa.) and Wake Forest University freshman Maria Whitehead (West Chester, Pa.).

     High School all-Americans Carey Fetting-Smith (Baltimore, Md., Bryn Mawr School) April Fronzoni (Wyoming Valley West, Larksville, Pa.) and Kristi Gannon (San Pasqual HS, Escondido, Calif) round out the junior U.S. team.

Following the Spain trip, the same team will compete at the Junior Pan American Championships, April 13-23, in Bridgetown, Barbados. The U.S. placed third behind Argentina and Canada at the last Junior Pan Am event in 1997.

      The Junior Pan Am Championships serve as a qualifier for the Junior World  Cup scheduled for 2001 in Buenos Aires. Held every four years, the Junior World Cup is the International Hockey Federation's premier event for junior national teams. The U.S placed 12th at the last Junior World Cup in 1997.