US Field Hockey News

USA Field Hockey Women to Meet Ireland and Canada in Olympic Qualifier Prep

Colorado Springs, Colo.. – The USA Women's National Team will continue its preparations for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament with a series of matches with Ireland and Canada, Jan 11-24, 2004 at Stanford Univ., Stanford, Calif.

The USA women will meet Ireland in games Jan 11, 12, 14, 15 and 17 before taking on Canada for matches Jan 21, 22, 23 and 24. All games are scheduled for 2 p.m. at Stanford and there is no charge for admission.

The games represent the USA team's final domestic preparations for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, March 19-28 in Auckland, New Zealand. Following the Stanford games, the USA will travel to Australia in February to continue its training for the qualifying tournament. The USA will need to finish in the top five of the 10-team Auckland tourney to earn a spot in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

The series will feature the national team debut of some of USA Field Hockey's newest stars including Kelly Baril  (Peabody, Mass.), April Fronzoni (Larksville, Pa.), Kristi Gannon (Escondido, Calif.), Melissa Leonetti (Erdenheim, Pa.), Angie Loy (Loysville, Pa.), Molly Powers (Oak Park, Ill.) and Tiffany Snow (Escondido, Calif.). The recent college stars were added to the team following individual trials in November and December.

In a reunion of California-grown stars, Gannon joins her sister Kelli as a member of the USA team and are reunited with another former San Pasqual High School and Escondido native standout in Snow in making a return to their home state. The Gannon sisters both earned mulitple All-America honors at the Univ. of Michigan while Snow was the NCAA Field Hockey Player of the Year in 2002.

The Stanford matches pit the USA against some familiar foes. The Irish have been frequent guests of the USA team with visits for the 1995 Road to Atlanta Tour, a 2000 training series at Chula Vista, Calif. and a tournament appearance at the 2002 International Atlantic Cup in Virginia Beach. The USA defeated Ireland, 2-1, in the 2002 World Cup and split a pair of games with Ireland at the International Atlantic Cup.

Currently ranked 14th in the world, the Irish will be among the teams competing with the USA for a spot in the 2004 Olympic Games at the Olympic Qualifying series. Ireland will compete in Pool A with Great Britain, Germany, New Zealand and Ukraine while the USA will begin the tournament in Pool B with Korea, Spain, Japan and Russia.

The USA will conclude the Stanford series with Canada in the continuation of a long-time rivalry with the team's northern neighbors. The two teams met most recently at the 2003 Pan American Games where the USA handed Canada a 3-0 loss to knock the Canadians out of medal contention. The USA went on to win the silver medal at the Pan Am Games behind Pan Am champion Argentina. The USA and Canada are scheduled to meet again at the Pan American Cup, April 17-28 in Bridgetown, Barbados. The tournament serves as the contentintal qualifier for the 2006 World Cup.

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