Tracey Claire Fuchs (born November 3, 1966, in

Centereach, New York Centereach () is a hamlet and census-designated place in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 31,578 at the 2010 census. History The hamlet of Centereach was first called West Middle Island, but primarily became known as ...

) is a former

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

midfielder from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, who was a member of the US women's team that finished fifth at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. She also competed in the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

, where ''Team USA'' finished in eighth and last position. She also played for the 1994 World Cup team that won the bronze medal. She won a bronze medal at the

1995 Pan American Games File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

. Fuchs won the NCAA Division I national title as the coach of the Northwestern Wildcats in 2021.

Life

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 — who were all 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 went to the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

where she paid the Huskies immediate dividends, winning an NCAA championship in her second 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 USA qualified for the

, then won 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 before the 1996 Olympics. The team finished sixth. She missed the 2002 World Cup because of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The U.S. team was stranded in the USA 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. She participated at the

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the games was made in the mid-1990s, when Dominican Republic had one of the highest growth rates in Latin America. Al ...

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

. Fuchs was capped "280 something" times over 17 years, scoring 69 goals. She is now the head field hockey coach at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

and was on the coaching staff for Team USA at the 2006 World Cup in Madrid.

References

External links

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USA Field Hockey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuchs, Tracey 1966 births Living people American female field hockey players UConn Huskies field hockey players Olympic field hockey players of the United States Field hockey players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1996 Summer Olympics People from Centereach, New York Northwestern Wildcats field hockey coaches Pan American Games medalists in field hockey Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Field hockey players at the 2003 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games