USA Field Hockey News

USA Field Hockey to Select National Indoor Teams

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Field will select its 2005-06 men’s and women’s indoor national teams during trials, Dec. 17 at the Sportsplex in Feasterville, Pa.

Athletes selected to the U.S. squad at the trial will become eligible to represent the U.S. at the third Indoor Pan American Cup in late 2005 or early 2006. The Pan Am event will serve as a qualifier for the 2^nd Indoor World Cup scheduled for 2007 in Vienna, Austria. The top two teams from the Pan Am Cup are expected to qualify for the 12-team Indoor World Cup

The trials are expected to draw approximately 20 men and 25-30 women with USA Field Hockey selectors choosing a squad of 12-15 to represent the U.S. through March 2006.

Athletes scheduled to compete in the trials include 1996 Olympian Steve Danielson (San Diego, Calif.) and current U.S. outdoor team members Shawn Hindy (Westlake Village, Calif.), Pat Cota (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and Ian Scally (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) for the men. Current U.S. national team member Keli Smith (Bethesda, Md.) and former outdoor teammates Tara Jelley (San Diego, Calif.), Lauren Mazziotto (Winston-Salem, N.C.) and Jill Dedman (Albany, N.Y.) as well as current indoor team member and  Drexel Univ. head coach Denise Zelenak (Wilmington, Del.) will be among those participating in the women’s trial. The husband-wife team of Jeremy and Sandra Cook (Philadelphia, Pa.) will also be looking to return to the indoor national squads after Sandra competed for the women in 2004 and Jeremy played on the U.S. Indoor World Cup team in 2003.

USA Field Hockey began sponsoring official international indoor teams in 2002 in conjunction with the International Hockey Federation’s recognition of the game at the world level. The U.S. hosted the first Indoor Pan Am Cup in 2002 at Rockville, Md., where the USA men placed second and earned a spot in the first FIH Indoor World Cup in February 2003. The U.S. men went on to place 11 in the 12-team World Cup, Feb. 5-9, 2003 in Leipiz, Germany. The U.S. women did not qualify for the inaugural Indoor World Cup following a third place finish in the Pan Am event.

 In 2004, the U.S. men again placed second in the Indoor Pan Am Cup behind eventual champion Cuba in Valencia, Venezuela. The U.S. women did not compete in the 2004 event.

 Scott Smith a former member of the Canadian National Team and an assistant coach at Northeastern Univ. serves as the women’s national team coach. The men are coached by former Canada assistant coach Bobby Alexander.

The following athletes are registered to compete in the trials: