Passmore Names FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifier 2024 India Roster

RANCHI, India – Following the conclusion of a test series against New Zealand, U.S. Women’s National Team Head Coach David Passmore and coach staff have named the 18-athlete roster that will travel to Ranchi, India for the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifier 2024 India, taking place January 13 to 19.

“The series against New Zealand provided the ideal test to view our full centralized squad and some other non-centralized athletes,” commented Passmore. “Competition was again tough with the five matches in a week at the [FIH Hockey] Olympic Qualifier also being a consideration. While we have selected a very similar group to the Pan American Games - all athletes were close to selection and the [FIH Hockey] Pro League matches following the Olympic Qualifier will provide those athletes who missed out the opportunity to play with the United Eagles again. Player load and welfare will be key at that time.”

Kelsey Bing (Houston, Texas), Sanne Caarls (Nieuw-Vennep, Netherlands), Leah Crouse (Virginia Beach, Va.), Brooke DeBerdine (Millersville, Pa.), Emma DeBerdine (Millersville, Pa.), Amanda Golini (Randolph, N.J.), Danielle Grega (Kingston, Pa.), Ally Hammel (Duxbury, Mass.), Ashley Hoffman (Mohnton, Pa.), Kelee Lepage (Honey Brook, Pa.), Karlie Kisha (Hamburg, Pa.), Jenny Rizzo (Hershey, Pa.), Ashley Sessa (Schwenksville, Pa.), Meredith Sholder (Fleetwood, Pa.), Abigail Tamer (Dexter, Mich.), Jillian Wolgemuth (Mount Joy, Pa.), Beth Yeager (Greenwich, Conn.), Maddie Zimmer (Hershey, Pa.)

The traveling reserve is Linnea Gonzales (Bel Air, Md.).

*all times are listed in Eastern Time Zone, which is +10.5 hours ahead local time

Pool A will include Germany, Japan, Chile and Czech Republic. Pool B will include India, New Zealand, United States and Italy.

The No. 15 USWNT will start off pool play with a match against their host, India, on January 13 at 9:00 a.m. ET. No. 6 India defeated No. 11 Japan to win the bronze medal at the recent Asian Games. Next, USA will face Italy on January 14 at 6:30 a.m. ET. No. 19 Italy finished in eighth place at the EuroHockey Championships that took place in August. For their final pool match before crossovers, the United Eagles will match-up against Oceania Cup runner-up No. 9 New Zealand, who they faced in a series this December in Charlotte, N.C., on January 16 at 6:30 a.m. ET.

Crossovers begin on January 18, with the top two teams from each pool heading into a semifinal. The final will take place on January 19 at 9:00 a.m. ET, with both teams qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The third team to qualify will be decided in the bronze medal match, happening immediately before the final at 6:00 a.m. ET.

“While we know our group poses a tough challenge starting with an in form India team coming of the back of their Asian Games victory,” added Passmore. “It will be special to play them in front of a large impartial Ranchi crowd but we coped well with that pressure in Chile. New Zealand have improved significantly since last summer and we will know we will need to put a full 60-minute performance in against them which we only saw glimpses of in our recent series in Charlotte.”

The teams that finish in the top three of their respective FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers will seal their qualification to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

For more information on the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifier 2024 India, visit the event page.