Tom Stagliano Wellesley, Mass. What has happened to Danielle Fotopoulos regarding the women’s national team? Here is the women who broke Mia Hamm’s NCAA women’s scoring record. Who lead Florida to an NCAA “upset” of UNC women in 1998. Who has scored a “reasonable number” of goals for the national team for the number of playing minutes she has been allocated to date. Who is a big forward that can dominate over many of the international defenders. Why is she not in the national team camp? Is she off doing something else? Is she medically not ready? Or does the new coach not consider her national team material? Dean Caparaz: I was interested in the fate of Danielle Fotopoulos as well, Tom, so I spoke to U.S. head coach April Heinrichs about her. Heinrichs didn’t call Fotopoulos in for either of her first two training camps as the new national team boss. On Feb. 16, Heinrichs named her 29-player roster for a March 2-6 camp in Orlando, Fla. She will pick an 18-player roster from that camp for the Algarve Cup, which will be played March 12-18 in Portugal. Heinrichs said that Danielle and all the players from the U.S. World Cup ’99 team are still in the running for spots on the Olympic team. But the University of Florida star has plenty of competition from younger forwards, including Penn State’s Christie Welsh, who was Soccer America’s Freshman of the Year for 1999. The players are similar. Both are big (Fotopoulos is 5-foot-11, 165 pounds; Welsh is 5-foot-10, 155 pounds), strong and fast. Both are good finishers. Welsh might be a little faster. And since she’s only 18 years old (she turns 19 on Feb. 27), Welsh has more potential than the 23-year-old Fotopoulos. Heinrichs could still give Fotopoulos a look in the April 8 game against Iceland in Charlotte, N.C. “It’s too early to say I’ve made any decisions [about the U.S. Olympic roster],” Heinrichs said. “Danielle is a great player.” (If you have a question for a Soccer America Magazine editor, click “Q&A with SA Editors” in the left column of the home page under “Interactive.”)