April 11, 2006

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - NCAA Champion and Terrapin Lauren Powley was named to the 18-member USA World Cup Qualifying team. The qualifying tournament takes place April 25-May 6 in Rome, Italy. The Americans will be looking to place in the top five and join Argentina, Australia, Germany, India, The Netherlands, South Africa and host Spain at the Women's World Cup, Sept. 27-Oct. 7 in Madrid.

Also among the 18 players named to the squad are former Terps Dina Rizzo '02 (Walpole, Mass.) and Sara Silvetti '05 (Wapwallopen, Pa.).

Currently 12th in the world rankings, the USA enters the qualifier as the No. 6 seed behind top-seed China, No. 2 New Zealand, No. 3, No. 4 Japan and No. 5 England. The USA will open play against Ireland on April 25 and will compete in a Pool B field that also includes New Zealand, Korea, Azerbaijan and host Italy.

The USA will leave for the qualifier on April 17 with a stop over in The Netherlands for some training games against the club team Klein Zwitzerland and the Dutch U23 squad before continuing on to Rome.

The USA has appeared in the World Cup in each of the last six editions of the quadrennial event dating back to 1983.

This will not be the first time Powley has played on the Senior National Team. A native of Mountaintop, Pa., and a four-time All-American, she played on the national team last summer and earned a starting spot and 14 caps. Powley finished her four-year career helping the Terps capture the NCAA and ACC titles in November of 2005.

For more information on the US National Team, visit www.usfieldhockey.com.

-TERPS-