Tracey Fuchs

Tracey Claire Fuchs (born November 3, 1966 in Centereach, New York) is a former field hockey midfielder from the United States, who was a member of the US women's team that finished fifth at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. She also competed in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, where "Team USA" finished in eighth and last position. She also played for the 1994 World Cup team that won the bronze medal.

A former street hockey player on Long Island, she became a force on her high school field hockey team for Centereach Cougars. She was the last of four sisters -- Dana, Jill, and Lauren were the others -- to play for National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Hall-of-Famer Nancy Cole. All four Fuchs sisters were team captains.

Fuchs scored 82 goals her senior year, the National Federation record. She finished her high school career with 171 goals, second all-time.

She matriculated to the University of Connecticut, where she paid the Huskies immediate dividends, winning an NCAA championship in her sophomore season. She was a three-time All-American and won the 1987 Honda-Broderick Award, which recognizes the national player of the year.

Fuchs' international career started strongly as the Americans qualified for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, then took silver in the 1994 World Cup. She was named USA Field Hockey's Athlete of the Year in 1990 and 1995. She and the rest of the national-team pool prepared for an entire year in Atlanta for the 1996 Olympics. The team finished sixth.

Heading towards qualification for the 2000 Olympics, Fuchs was named to the President's XI, a world all-star team chosen to play the Australian Hockeyroos for the International Hockey Federation's 75th Anniversary.

The American team, however, fell one rung short of qualifying for Sydney 2000, losing by a goal to China.

The next international competition for the United States was the 2002 World Cup. The qualification tournament was to occur in France in mid-September 2001. However, because of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the U.S. team was stuck stateside while the rest of the teams were in France.

This sent Fuchs and the American team on a five-continent, 10,000-mile journey to earn the 16th and final qualification place for the World Cup. At the end, in a three-game series against India played in Cannock, England, Fuchs led the way for the United States with a pair of second-half goals in the third and final match as the Americans won 3-1.

Fuchs was capped 269 times over 17 years, scoring 69 goals.

She is now an assistant coach for the University of Michigan and was on the coaching staff for Team USA at the 2006 World Cup in Madrid.

References

* [http://www.usfieldhockey.com/ USA Field Hockey]
* [http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/fu/tracey-fuchs-1.html sports-reference]