May 27, 2007
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO-- Old Dominion University field hockey All-AmericansDana Sensenig (Denver, PA.) and Caroline Nichols (Virginia Beach, VA.)have been selected to compete for USA Field Hockey for the AtaHoldingChampions Challenge, June 9-17 in Baku, Azerbaijan, announced nationalteam coach Lee Bodimeade. In all, four Lady Monarch greats are on theroster for this event.
Team USA will face China, England, Korea, New Zealand and host Azerbaijanin the biennial event.
The USA team includes ten members from the USA's 2006 World Cup teamwhich most recently won the Chile Four Nation Tournament by defeatingworld No. 2 ranked Argentina, 1-0. Two of those are former Lady Monarch All-Americans Tiffany Snow (2002 Honda Award Winner) and Melissa Leonetti('03).
Snow scored three goals at the Chile Four Nation Tournament to tie for the team lead. Sensenig will make her third international tour for theUSA. This will be a national team debut for Caroline Nichols.
Nichols was the CAA Player and Defender of the Year last fall and earnedfirst team All-American honors. She was also named the ODU Alumni Association's Female Athlete of the Year.
Sensenig earned All-CAA and All-American honors last fall. She was theCAA Scholar Athlete of the Year and the recipient of the Jack Wilkins/James Howard Female Scholar Athlete of the Year award.
The USA is the only country to appear in eachof the three previousChampions Challenge tournaments which traditionally features teams ranked7-12 in the international standings. The USA placed fifth in each of theprevious events and hosted the 2005 Champions Challenge in VirginiaBeach.