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United States Field Hockey Association
A member of the United States Olympic Committee

US Field Hockey Announces 1999 Athletes and Team of the Year Awards

Reeve, Nakamura, Women's National Team Claim Top Honors

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Two athletes on the last line of defense are now first on the list as the U.S. Field Hockey Association’s selections for the 1999 Athletes of the Year.

     Pan American Team defenders Jill Reeve (Hoosick Falls, N.Y.) and Shawn Nakamura (Camarillo, Calif.) earned the individual honors for the sport while the 1999 Pan American Games silver medalist Women’s National Team was selected as U.S. Field Hockey’s Team of the Year.

      “1999 was another outstanding year for U.S. Field Hockey, and we are extremely proud of all our athletes in all levels of our programs,” said USFHA Executive Director Jane Betts. “Athletes like Jill and Shawn and the members of our Women’s National Team demonstrate the finest qualities of our sport through their exceptional skill, dedication, commitment and enthusiasm.”

      The USFHA honorees are now eligible for the United States Olympic Committee’s SportsMan, SportsWoman and Team of the Year awards. Announcement of the USOC honors is scheduled for the 1999 U.S. Olympic Awards Dinner,  January 8, 2000 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, Ind.

Jill Reeve

A member of the U.S. National Team since 1991, Reeve helped lead the team to the silver medal at the XIII Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada, last summer. From her position at the heart of the USA defense, Reeve directed the team to five shutouts in seven Pan Am contests on the way to the silver medal. Offensively, the hard-hitting Reeve took many of the team’s corner shots in 1999, and scored both U.S. goals in a 2-1 win over 1996 Olympic silver medalist Korea in a May tour. Reeve also collected four goals in four games in a February training series against Canada, and scored the game-winning goal in a 1-0 victory over 1992 Olympic gold medalist Spain in an April tour to Barcelona.

      “Jill has been the backbone of the US defense for the entirety of 1999,” said U.S. coach Tracey Belbin.  “She  played outstandingly in particular in Korea and at the Pan American games.  She has shown a calmness and maturity under pressure, and her play can only get better in the future. She sets high standards for herself, and strives to make a  difference to how this team operates. Her leadership qualities have had a major impact on the success of the US team in 1999.”

      In addition to the Pan Am silver medal, Reeve collected a gold medal for the U.S. victory at the Canada Four Nation Tournament in Vancouver and a silver medal at the Sydney International Hockey Challenge Olympic test event in Australia.

      A two-time All-America selection at Old Dominion University, Reeve helped lead the Lady Monarchs to three NCAA Championships from 1990-92. As a member of the U.S. national team, she has appeared in 82 international matches including the 1996 Olympic Games.  She is currently an assistant field hockey coach at Penn State .

Shawn Nakamura

      In only his second year as a member of the    men’s National Squad, Nakamura was  selected vice-captain for the U.S. men and provided the leadership and guidance to a young USA team usually reserved for long-time veteran members of a team.

     “Shawn has a very positive attitude, a desire to excel, determination and self-discipline,” said U.S. Men’s National Team coach Shiv Jagday.  “He has come a long way in the last two years and developed into a dependable deep defender. Given a couple of years he will be one of the very best fullbacks in the world if he keeps on training and improving the way he has been.”

      On a team that averaged just two years of national experience, Nakamura helped lead the U.S. to a fifth place finish at the Pan Am Games.  He scored two goals in a 6-0 U.S. win over Mexico at the Pan Am Games. In other international competition, Nakamura scored goals in a 4-2 win over Scotland, a 6-1 win over Red-White Cologne (Germany) and a 3-2 win over Aachner Hockey Club (Germany).

      After taking up the sport at age 10, Nakamura was named to the U.S. Junior National Team in 1996. He was also an all-star placekicker for his football teams at Camarillo High School and Moorpark College.

      An assistant coach at the University of California-Berkeley, Nakamura helped guide the Bears to the NorPac championship and a top-20 ranking in the NCAA poll.

U.S. Women’s National Team

      With a new coach and an Olympic focus, the U.S. Women’s National Team earned US Field Hockey’s Team of the Year honors after capturing the Pan Am silver medal and impressing the world’s hockey community with its improving play.

      Hired in January, head coach Tracey Belbin quickly led the team to training tours of Spain and Korea where the US defeated 1996 Olympic gold medalist Spain, 1-0, and 1996 Olympic silver medalist Korea, 2-1. The US team then won the gold medal at the Canada Four Nation Tournament in Vancouver before earning its way to the Pan Am championship game and an eventual loss to Argentina. The team added to its 1999 hardware collection with a silver medal at the Sydney International Hockey Challenge, which served as the Olympic test event for the venue of the 2000 Olympic field hockey tournament, the State Hockey Centre at Homebush Bay.

      At the Sydney Challenge, the team tied host country and defending world and Olympic champion Australia, 1-1, and earned rave reviews from the international hockey media as the “vastly improved Americans” and a team among the “big improvers in world hockey”.

      The team will look to qualify for the 2000 Olympic Games March 24-April 2, 2000 at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Milton Keynes, England. The U.S. will need to place among the top five teams at the 10-team tournament to earn a spot in the 2000 Olympic Games.The U.S. will preview the site of the qualifying tournament in November when the team travels to Milton Keynes for  a series of games against Great Britain.

      The 1999 U.S. Women’s National  Team includes the following athletes and coaches: Kate Barber (West Chester, Pa.), Lisa Cellucci (Broomall, Pa.), Chris DeBow  (West Chester, Pa.),  Kris Fillat  (San Diego, Calif.), Tracey Fuchs (Ann Arbor, Mich.), Kelli James (Medford, N.J.), Katie Kauffman (West Lawn, Pa.), Tracey Larson (Morrisville, Pa.), Antoinette Lucas (Richmond, Va.), Nancy Pelligreen (St. Louis, Mo.), Jill Reeve (Hoosick Falls, N.Y.), Mimi Smith (Virginia Beach, Va.), Courtney Sommer (Tulsa, Okla.), Eleanor Stone (Atlanta, Ga.), Peggy Storrar  (Mahopac, NY), Carla Tagliente (Cortland, N.Y.), Jana Toepel (Perkiomenville, Pa.), Michelle Vizzuso (Fairfield, NJ), Cindy Werley (Allentown, Pa.), Jana Withrow (Hockessin, Del.). Head coach Tracey Belbin (Queensland, Australia/San Diego, Calif.), Asst. coaches Beth Beglin (Iowa City, Iowa), Shelley Behrens (Richmond, Va.), Tess Ellis (Williamsburg, Va.) and Nick Conway (Chapel Hill, NC).