Feb. 10, 2009

By Matt Dougherty, Patriot League Media Relations Director

While the Lafayette field hockey team began to prepare for the 2008 season, one of their assistants had business to attend to on the other side of the world.

Lafayette assistant coach Amy Tran doubles as the starting goaltender for the United States Field Hockey team, and helped the Americans make the field for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. It was the first appearance for the United States team since they made it as the host country in 1996.

"The experience in China was out of world," Tran said. "The Chinese people and the entire country were so amazing."

Tran started each game in goal for the Americans, who went 1-3-2 in six outings and finished in eighth place in the field. She made seven saves in a 1-1 draw with sixth-ranked Japan, and led team USA to a 4-1 victory over seventh-ranked New Zealand. Tran also recorded a shutout in a scoreless draw with Great Britain, and notched her 100th International Cap during the Games.

"It was a good step for United States Field Hockey to qualify for the Olympics after missing the last two and only getting there as a host in 1996," Tran said. "The only disappointment was our performance, we had hoped to finish in at least sixth place."

Still, the Olympic showing was enough to move the Americans from 11th to eighth in the World rankings. Tran and her United States teammates start right up again on the international stage, as they compete in the 2009 Pan American Cup in Bermuda with a berth in the 2010 World Cup on the line.

Speaking from San Diego, Tran said, "It's a cycle of international competition, with the Pan American Cup this year, then the World Cup in 2010 and Pan American Games in 2011 heading into the Olympics in 2012. We want to keep United States Field Hockey moving in the right direction."

The Olympic stint made it difficult for Tran to spend as much time as she would have wished with the Lafayette squad this season, but she likes the direction the Leopards are going under second-year Head Coach Andrew Griffiths.

"I didn't get to be with the team as much this year because I had to decompress from the Olympics," Tran said. "Lafayette is on the rise and I am really happy for the girls."

"Patriot League field hockey is really getting better, and I hope we can make it through to the NCAA Tournament."