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Tournament results

USA Junior Women to Compete in Chile Four Nation Tourney

Lauren Powley

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The USA Field Hockey women's junior national team begins its preparations for next spring's Pan American Junior Championship when the team competes in the Chile Four Nation Tournament, Dec. 13-19 in Santiago.

The four nation event represents a preview of the Pan Am Championships with junior teams from Argentina, Canada and host Chile joining the young USA team in Santiago. The four teams swept the top four spots at the last Pan Am Junior championship in 2000 with Argentina winning the gold medal, the USA taking the silver and Canada defeating Chile for the bronze medal. Argentina has won each of the four previous Pan Am junior events while the  USA placed second  in 1988 and 2000.

"This will be a great tour for the juniors as we prepare for next year's Jr. Pan Ams," said USA national junior team coach Tracey Fuchs.  "All of the teams we will see in San Juan will be participating in the Jr. Pan Ams, so we'll get a taste for the competition early. This will be the first international competition for many of these players, and we want to expose them to many teams and different styles before the World Cup next September."

The USA team got an early taste of success in elite-level competition when the team captured first place in USA Field Hockey's Summer League in 2004. In winning the title, the team went 11-4-1 against a league that featured collegiate standouts and former U.S. national team stars.

"Summer League definitely helped," said Fuchs on her team's preparations for the tour. "All but one player played on our Summer League team so that will make it easier to prepare. But we will still face some challenges."

One of the challenges facing the young team is a lack of playing time together leading up to the Chile tournament.

"Right now, everyone is involved in their high school or college season, so when we get to Santiago we'll have just two days to prepare for the tournament," said Fuchs. "Fortunately, the players will have just ended their seasons so there will not be a big lag time for them. We will do our best to prepare them before we leave so we can be very competitive in Chile.

The USA squad for the Santiago event includes Katerine Blair (Louisville, Ky./Virginia), Lauren Crandall (Doyelstown, Pa./Wake Forest), Rachel Dawson (Berlin, N.J./North Carolina), Katelyn Falgowski (Landenberg, Pa./St. Marks HS), Katie Grant (Lehighton, Pa./Duke), Michelle Kasold (Chapel Hill, N.C./East Chapel Hill HS), Cara-Lynn Lopresti (San Diego, Calif./Duke), Kristen Madden (Concord, N.H./Boston College), Katie O'Donnell (Blue Bell, Pa./Wissahickon HS), Lauren Powley (Montaintop, Pa./Maryland), Elzabeth Schlossberg (Chevy Chase, Md./Univ. Penn.), Dana Sensenig (Denver, Pa./Old Dominion), Amy Stopford (Hillsborough, N.C./Duke), Laura Suchoski (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Wyoming Seminary), Christine Suggs (Durham, N.C./Durham Acad.) and Jamie Whitten (Maidens, Va./Wake Forest).

The Women's Pan American Junior Champions are scheduled for March16-27 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The event serves as a qualifier for the 16-team Junior World Cup, in late 2005 in Santiago.

USA Junior Team Roster - Chile Four Nation Tournament

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