USA Field Hockey has announced its 18-member team for the Samsung Hockey World Cup Qualifier from 25 April to 6 May in Rome, Italy.

The top five teams at the 10-team qualifying tournament will join Argentina, Australia, Germany, India, The Netherlands, South Africa and host Spain at the Samsung Hockey World Cup, from 27 September to 8 October in Madrid.

'The team has made a lot of progress since coming together in New Zealand (in a 2005 test series),' said USA head coach Lee Bodimeade. 'It's now a matter of building on those improvements so we can consistently beat the nations that we come up against and enable us to qualify for the World Cup.'

The U.S. team for the qualifier includes World Cup veterans Kate Barber (1998, 2002) and Carrie Lingo (2002) as well as 16 players seeking their first World Cup appearances: Kayla Bashore, Rachel Dawson, Kelly Doton, April Fronzoni, Kristi Gannon, Kelsey Keeran, Robyn Kenney, Claire Laubach, Melissa Leonetti, Angie Loy, Lauren Powley, Dina Rizzo, Sara Silvetti, Tiffany Snow and goalkeepers Amy Tran and Barb Weinberg.

Currently 12th in the world rankings, the USA enters the qualifier as the No. 6 seed behind top-seed China, New Zealand, Japan and No. 5 England. The USA will open play against Ireland on 25 April 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 17 April 17 with a stop over in The Netherlands for some training games against the club team Klein Zwitzerland and the Dutch under 23 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.

USA Women
Kate Barber, Kayla Bashore, Rachel Dawson, Kelly Doton, April Fronzoni, Kristi Gannon, Kelsey Keeran, Robyn Kenney, Claire Laubach, Melissa Leonetti, Carrie Lingo, Angie Loy, Lauren Powley, Dina Rizzo, Sara Silvetti, Tiffany Snow, Amy Tran, Barb Weinberg, Coach: Lee Bodimeade