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USA Field Hockey News USA Field Hockey Women Settle For Pan Am Silver
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – The USA Field Hockey women’s national team saw their gold medal hopes denied and their Olympic qualifying quest prolonged as the USA lost to six-time champion Argentina in the Pan American Games championship match. “The team gave everything they possibly could,” said U.S. coach Lee Bodimeade. “When you’re coming up against No. 2 in the world, you know it’s going to be a tall order, and to Argentina’s credit, they were outstanding today.” The USA also saw its Olympic qualifying quest put on hold as Argentina claimed the continent’s automatic berth in the 2008 Olympic Games. The USA must now wait for an assignment to one of three of next year’s Olympic qualifying tournaments in Baku, Azerbaijan (April 12-20), Kazan, Russia (April 19-27) or Vancouver, B.C. (April 26-May 4). The USA will need to win its six-team qualifier to earn a trip to Beijing. “I couldn’t be
prouder of this team,” said captain Kate Barber who earned her third
straight Pan Am Games silver medal. “We came to win and unfortunately we
didn’t come away with it. We’re going to look back on this tournament and
learn from it.” But the defending champions roared back in the second half as Alejandra Gulla tied the game at 1-1 three minutes into the second stanza. Rosario Luchetti’s field goal nine minutes later started a sting of three straight Argentina goals in a six-minute span as Augustina Bouza and Claudia Burkart increased the Argentina lead to 4-1. “As hard as we tried and everything we did, we couldn’t break them,” said Bodimeade on Argentina’s rally. Kelly Doton (Greenfield, Mass.) scored the game’s final goal for the USA on a penalty corner with 12 minutes left in the game, but it wasn’t enough to keep Argentina from clinching another gold medal and earning its spot in the Olympic Games. Argentina now joins host China, Africa champion South Africa and Asian Games runner-up Japan as teams clinching spots in the 2008 Olympic Games. Australia and New Zealand will likely receive the two Oceania quota berths at the Games as the only two traditional participants in the Oceania Cup (Sept. 10-17, 2007). The remaining European championship berth and the two European quota selections will be decided at the EuroHockey Nations Cup, Aug. 18-25 in Manchester, England. Three Olympic qualifying tournaments in April 2008 will round out the 12-team women’s field in Beijing. “We’ve made some great progress over the past 24 months and along the way we’re taking steps that are getting us closer to being in the top four in the world and that’s ultimately where we want to be,” said Bodemeade. “We’re going to swallow a bitter pill today, but we’re a better team for it.” Argentina 4,
USA 2 USA Starters: Angie Loy (Loysville, Pa.), Kelly Doton (Greenfield, Mass.), Rachel Dawson (Berlin, N.J.), Tiffany Snow (Escondido, Calif.), Carrie Lingo (Rehoboth Beach, Del.), Kate Barber (West Chester, Pa.), Amy Tran (Grantville, Pa.), Kayla Bashore (Shoemakersville, Pa.), Lauren Crandall (Doyelstown, Pa.), Lauren Powley (Mountaintop, Pa.). USA Reserves: Melissa Leonetti (Erdenheim, Pa.), Sarah Dawson (Berlin, N.J.), Dana Sensenig (Denver, Pa.), Michelle Kasold (Chapel Hill, N.C.), Katelyn Falgowski (Landenberg, Pa.)
USA Field Hockey 2007 Pan American Games Team
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