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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— Developing   team chemistry and defining a playing style are among the goals of head coach Tracey Belbin and the U.S. Women's National Team as the team heads for Barcelona for a four-game series with Spain.

The U.S. will meet Spain's national team in four practice matches on April 6, 8, 10 and 11 at Terrassa, site of the 1992 Olympic hockey tournament, as the U.S. continues its preparations for the XIII Pan American Games this summer in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Making her first international excursion with the team since being named head coach in January, Belbin will continue to tinker with personnel combinations on the tour.

"The aim since my arrival has been to initially develop a larger base from which to select a team for certain tours and tournaments," says Belbin, who earned a gold medal with Australia at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. "As Spain closely followed a camp, the philosophy was to pick those athletes that were in form for this tour."

The 18-member touring team for Spain was selected from a combined squad of 32 athletes representing the U.S. National Team and U.S. Senior Reserve Team following March training sessions at the ARCO Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif.

Belbin also hope to use the tour to define the playing style of her new team.

"When we are away, it will be an opportunity to develop the style and system that best suits the personnel in the team, and ultimately in the whole squad," says Belbin. "The Spain tour will be the first step in our progress towards the Pan Ams and towards 2000."

The U.S. touring team features seven members from the 1996 Atlanta Olympic team including Tracey Fuchs (Ann Arbor, Mich.), Kris Fillat (San Diego, Calif.), Kelli James (Medford, N.J.), Antoinette Lucas (Richmond, Va.), Katie Kauffman (West Lawn, Pa.) and Jill Reeve (Hoosick Falls, N.Y.) and Cindy Werley (Allentown, Pa.) The team placed fifth at the Olympic Games in Atlanta.

In addition to the Olympians, the touring team   includes World Cup veterans Kate Barber (West Chester, Pa.), Chris DeBow (West Chester, Pa.),  Michelle Vizzuso (Fairfield, N.J.), Jana Withrow (Hockessin, Del.) and 1998 USFHA Athlete of the Year Peggy Storrar (Mahopac, NY).

The team also features collegiate All-America selections, Mimi Smith (Virginia Beach, Va.) of 1998 NCAA national champion Old Dominion Univ., Courtney Sommer (Tulsa, Okla.) of Duke Univ.,  Jana Toepel (Perkiomenville, Pa.) of the University of North Carolina, Carla Tagliente (Cortland, N.Y.) of the Univ. of Maryland and Vizzuso of the Univ. of Virginia.

The Spanish field hockey tradition includes a gold medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games hosted by Spain at Terrassa. The U.S. women did not compete at the Barcelona Games, but Belbin's Australian team placed fifth in the Olympic tournament. Spain placed eighth at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Spain has also appeared in seven World Cup tournaments and earned fifth place finishes in Sydney in 1990 and in Berlin in 1976.

"The Spanish players are traditionally physical and robust," says Belbin. "They defend very well, which provides us with opportunities to play and experiment with a more attacking style than the US teams may have been used to in the past.

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Tour Schedule (Results)

U.S. Women's National Team Spain Roster