BEIJING • Kate Barber is not a happy Olympian.

Then again, can you blame her?

She’s the durable, well-traveled captain of the U.S. women’s field hockey team, winless in its first two matchesof the Beijing Games after a 12-year Olympic hiatus in which it practically vanished from the international stage.

Stingy goaltending by Amy Tran and a second-half score by Barber helped the No. 11 Americans salvage a 1-1 tie Tuesday against No. 5 Japan on the heels of a 2-2 draw against No. 2 Argentina in their Olympic opener.

The U.S. must eventually win to advance – much easier said than done, with its next game Thursday against No. 3 Germany, the 2004 Olympic gold medalist.

“The fact that we’re now Olympians is behind us,” said Barber, a 10-time national team member. “It’s an experience of a lifetime, a dream come true. But we’re very focused on our job at hand and what we need to do to be on the podium.”

Podium talk seemed laughable before April, when the U.S. secured its first Olympic berth since the 1996 Atlanta Games by beating Belgium in the championship match of a world qualifier in Russia.

The Americans, plagued by constant turnover and less-than-desirable grass-roots programs, have a bleak Olympic history, their only medal a bronze at the 1984 Los Angeles Games on the strength of a win over powerhouse Australia.

“The Olympics are the same as every other game but completely different,” said Tran, who has played in 101 international matches. “You can’t explain it until you’re here and you take in the atmosphere. At the same time, a game is a game.”

Barber maintains better results are plausible.

“We’re used to seeing this level of play,” she said. “We are ranked 11th in the world, but we’ve faced all these teams we’re going to play here. It’s just a matter of being able to put it together for 70 minutes instead of 30 minutes here and 25 minutes there.

“We put more pressure on ourselves than anybody. We hold ourselves to a high level, and we believe we belong at this level. We want to execute.”-CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0256 or brian.gomez@gazettedev.gazette.com. Check out our Olympics blog at gazetteolympics.freedomblogging.com

The boat is made of plywood, steel and 30 plastic fertilizer barrels for flotation. Photo by