July 27, 2007

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Thirteen current and former ACC field hockey players competed in the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this month, including 10 of the 16 athletes on the USA field hockey roster.

The 10 ACC players and their USA teammates saw their gold medal hopes fall at the hands of six-time champion Argentina 4-2 in the championship game on Tuesday. Team USA got on the scoreboard first on a converted penalty corner at the 38-minute mark. Argentina responded with four straight goals - including three in a six-minute span in the second half - to take a 4-1 lead before Kelly Doton (Wake Forest '04) converted a penalty corner at 58:00 for the final score. Amy Tran (UNC '02) started in goal for the nationals.

Carrie Lingo (UNC '02) and Keli Smith (Maryland '01) each scored a goal in the team's 4-1 semifinal win over Chile last Saturday to lift the team into the championship match. Recent Maryland graduate Paula Infante netted Chile's only goal of the game. Infante and her Chilean teammates finished fourth in the standings, while Duke's Marian Dickinson '09 and Hilary Linton '07 helped the Canadian team to a fifth-place finish. Lingo led the ACC players' strong performance by netting five goals during the Games to tie her for third overall in scoring, and Doton added four goals to tie for fifth place.

The 13 ACC athletes on the USA, Canada, and Chile teams still have a chance to go to Beijing, as the second through sixth place teams in this tournament are invited to one of three Olympic qualifying tournaments that are held in April 2008. China, South Africa, and Japan have already qualified for the 2008 Games along with Argentina.

ACC Field Hockey Players in the 2007 Pan Am Games