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US Field Hockey Women's Junior World Cup Team Announced

Colorado Springs, Colo. -- Two Junior World Cup veterans and five current members of the U.S. senior national team headline U.S. Field Hockey's selections to the 2001 Junior World Cup team. The 16-member team will compete at the International Hockey Federation (FIH) Women's Junior World Cup, May 14-26 in Buenos Aires.

      The premier quadrennial event for junior players under the age of 21, the Junior World Cup features 16 of the world's top teams. The U.S. will compete in Pool A of the four-pool tourney with India, New Zealand and defending Junior World Cup champion The Netherlands. The Junior World Cup field also includes host Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, England, Germany, Korea, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Ukraine and Wales.

            “This group is a spirited bunch and I look forward to working with their
energy,” said head coach Tess Ellis, a former Australian Junior national player.  “With India, New Zealand & Netherlands in our pool, it is going to require this team to adjust quickly to different styles of play and systems.  Hopefully, with our lead up games that we have planned, the team will be able to do their homework and prepare themselves to take on the best in the World.”

      The U.S. will take on New Zealand in the tournament's opening game, May 14.

      Veterans of the last U.S. Junior World Cup team, Meredith Keller (Wilmington, Del.) and Abby Martin (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) will make their second trip to the tournament in an attempt to improve on a 12th place finish in 1997.  A member of the U.S. senior National Team, Martin joins senior squad teammates, Jessica Coleman (Oceanport, N.J.), Kelly Dostal (Hatfield, Mass.), Kristi Gannon (Escondido, Calif.) and goalkeeper Amy Tran (Grantville, Pa.) as members of the junior team. Collegiate all-America selections at the Univ. of North Carolina, Tran and Martin joined the Univ. of Michigan's Kristi Gannon (Escondido, Calif.) in helping the U.S. senior team capture the silver medal in last month's Americas Cup in Kingston, Jamaica.

      The team also includes 2000 collegiate all-America selections Kelly Baril (Peabody, Mass.) of Princeton and April Fronzoni (Larksville, Pa.) of the Univ. of Michigan. Coleman earned all-America honors in 1999 at the Univ. of Virginia. 

      Also earning a spot on the team, Ilvy Friebe (Bonn, Germany) of Princeton; Carissa Messimer (Mountaintop, Pa.) and Dina Rizzo (Walpole, Mass.) of the Univ. of Maryland; Tiffany Leister (Oley, Pa.) of the Univ. of Iowa; Maria Whitehead (West Chester, Pa.) of Wake Forest and Stephanie Fuller (No. Potomac, Md.) and Abbey Woolley (Ocean City, N.J.) of the Univ. of North Carolina will try to snap an eight-game USA Junior World Cup losing streak.

            A high school senior at Smith Academy in Hatfield, Dostal is one of two high schoolers on the team, joining Carey Fetting-Smith (Baltimore, Md) of Baltimore's Bryn Mawr School on the Junior World Cup roster. Another high school standout, Natalie martirosian (Richmond, Va.) of St. Catherine's will serve as the alternate to the team. All three athletes earned first-team high school all-America honors in 2000.

      The U.S. qualified for the Junior World Cup with a second place finish at the Pan American Junior Championships held in Barbados in 2000. Nine members of the Pan Am team return to the Junior World Cup squad including Coleman, Fetting-Smith, Fronzoni, Gannon, Leister, Rizzo, Tran, Whitehead and Woolley.

Prior to leaving for Argentina, the team is scheduled to compete against players from Harvard, Boston Univ. and the Minuteman club team as well as games with England, Spain and South Africa.

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