USFHA: A team of rising young stars and established international standouts will represent the United States when USA Field Hockey hosts the Rabobank Champions Challenge, July 8-16 at the USA Field Hockey National Training Center in Virginia Beach.
USA Field Hockey and women's national team coach Lee Bodimeade named the team to the tournament following a pair of international series with New Zealand and Australia.
'The make up of our team for the Champions Challenge is a continual progression in our development,' said Bodimeade who was named the team's head coach in April. 'We still have our eyes firmly focused on the World Cup Qualifier in Rome next year, and we are trying to expose and develop players so that we have a very strong and wide base of players to choose from for that tournament.'
Held every two years, the Champions Challenge is one of the International Hockey Federation's (FIH) premier events and includes the teams ranked 7th-12th in the world standings. The USA women are currently tied for 11th in the world rankings and will be joined by New Zealand (6th), England (8th), Spain (9th), Japan (10th) and South Africa (tied 11th). The USA opens play on July 8th against South Africa.
Seven of the 18 players selected to the USA's Champions Challenge team made their international debuts during the New Zealand and Australia series including Sarah Dawson, Kelly Doton, Lauren Crandall, Katie O'Donnell, Lauren Powley, Sara Silvetti and goalkeeper Barabara Weinberg.
The team also includes two-time Champions Challenge veterans Kate Barber and Carrie Lingo. The USA is the only team to appear in both previous Champions Challenge tournaments (2002, 2003), and Barber and Lingo are the only two athletes to compete in both tournaments. Tara Jelley, Dina Rizzo and goalkeeper Amy Tran will make their second Champions Challenge appearance after appearing in the 2003 event in Catania, Italy.
Also selected to the team Tiffany Snow led the team in scoring against New Zealand and Australia with five goals and will be joined by Angie Loy, Melissa Leonetti, Kristi Gannon, Robyn Kenney and Kristen Holmes-Winn.
The head coach at Princeton Univ., Holmes-Winn was coaxed out of international retirement by the coaching staff after serving as a coach at USA training and selection camps earlier in the year. She continued to impress the staff during the New Zealand tour and home series against Australia. The 31-year-old first earned a spot on the USA team in 1995 before retiring in 2000.
The youngest player in the tournament, O'Donnell is a 16-year old junior-to-be at Wissahickon High School. She became one of the youngest field hockey players ever to represent the USA in senior international competition last month when she earned a spot as a starter on the team's tour of New Zealand. If not for her selection to the Champions Challenge team, O'Donnell would have joined the 600 other high school aged athletes competing at the National Futures Championship running concurrently with the Champions Challenge, July 9-17, at the National Training Center. The tournament marks the culmination of USA Field Hockey's Futures Development Program where promising athletes receive five months of elite-level training and tactical instruction in preparation for possible future selection to the USA national teams.
O'Donnell, along with teammates Powley and Crandall, will be eligible to represent USA as part of the U.S. Under 21 team at the Women's Junior World Cup, 14-25 September in Santiago, Chile.
'Our measure of success over the course of the Champions Challenge will be how well we continue to develop and improve,' said Bodimeade.
'If this transfers into being in a position to contest for the championship title, well and good. But we need to be looking at continuing the development of the style of hockey that we see we'll be getting us into next year's World Cup.'
USA women’s team for Champions Challenge
Kate Barber 129 Caps
Lauren Crandall 8 Caps
Sarah Dawson 6 Caps
Kelly Doton 9 Caps
Kristi Gannon 20 Caps
Kristen Holmes-Winn 41 Caps
Tara Jelley 83 Caps
Robyn Kenney 22 Caps
Melissa Leonetti 9 Caps
Carrie Lingo 81 Caps
Angie Loy 24 Caps
Katie O’Donnell 8 Caps
Lauren Powley 8 Caps
Dina Rizzo 37 Caps
Sara Silbetti 8 Caps
Tiffany Snow 13 Caps
Amy Tran 23 Caps
Barbara Weinberg 2 Caps
Coach: Lee Bodimeade
Staff: Steve Jennings, Justine Sowry, Kate Reisinger
