US Field Hockey News

USA Field Hockey Selects 2004 Women's Under-21, Under-19 Teams

Colorado Springs, Colo.—USA Field Hockey has selected its 2004 Women's Under-21 and Under-19 Teams following A Camp team trials at the USA Field Hockey National Training Center in Virginia Beach, Va.

The two USA junior teams will compete in various domestic and international events in 2004 including the USA Field Hockey Summer League and annual JFK International Tournament in Virginia Beach for the U19 team and an international tour and regional training sessions for the U21 team. The teams will also serve to prepare age-eligible athletes for next year’s Pan American Junior Championships and the 2005 Junior World Cup.
            The 21-member U.S. Under-21 squad features some of the top young talent from last year's NCAA Championship tournament including national semifinal participants Lauren Crandall (Doyelstown, Pa.) and Clare Laubach (Bristow, Va.) of National Champion Wake Forest Univ., All-America selection Katie Grant (Lehighton, Pa.) and Nicole Dudek (Harleysville, Pa.) of national runner-up Duke Univ., Lauren Powley  (Mountaintop, Pa.) of national semifinalist Univ. of Maryland, and Jill Civic (Wescosville, Pa.) of national semifinalist Univ. of Michigan.

            The team also includes two-time collegiate All-America selection Natalie Martirosian (Richmond, Va.) of Princeton as well as collegians Kayla Bashore (Shomemakersville, Pa./Indiana), Katherine Blair (Louisville, Ky./Virginia), Rachel Dawson (Berlin, N.J./North Carolina), Carey Fetting-Smith (Baltimore, Md./North Carolina), Karin Grap (Van Etten, N.Y./Penn State), Michelle Huynh-Ba (Hockessin, Del./Michigan State), Jodi Murphy (Williamsburg, Va./Indiana), Lea Salese (Livingston, N.J./Pennsylvania), Dana Sensenig (Denver, Pa./Old Dominion) and Sara York (Watertown, Mass./Boston College). The squad also features four 2003 high school All-America first team selections in Katelyn Falgowski (Landenberg, Pa./St Harks HS), Michelle Kasold (Chapel Hill, N.C./East Chapel Hill HS), Christine Suggs (Durham, N.C./Durham Acad.) and Caitlin Williams (Greenland, N.H./St. Thomas Aquinas).

            Thirteen of the squad’s 20 athletes returned to the 2004 team after earning selection to last year’s junior teams including Civic (U20), Dawson (U20), Falgowski (U20), Fetting-Smith (U20), Grant (U20), Huynh-Ba (U20), Laubach (U20), Powley (U20), Suchoski (U16), Suggs (U16) and Williams (alt. U20). In addition, Grap returns to the team after earning an Under-18 team selection in 2001.

Under-19 Team to have familiar look

            The U.S. Under-19 squad will have a familiar look with 19 of the squad’s 25 members owning previous U.S. junior team experience.

            Six members of the U19 squad, Crandall, Dawson, Kasold, Suchoski, Suggs and Williams, will do double-duty with additional assignments as members of the U.S. U21 team. In addition, the squad includes veteran U.S. junior team members Laree Beans (Allentown, Pa./North Carolina), Kristin Edmonds (Emmaus, Pa./Maryland), Katelyn Falgowski (Landenberg, Pa./St. Mark’s HS), Mary Fox (St. Louis, Mo./Michigan), Gwendolyn Hunter (Seaville, N.J./Ocean City HS), Anne-Marie Janus (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Wyoming Valley West HS), Cara-Lynn Lopresti (San Diego, Calif./Stanford), Alexandra Malatesta (North Wales, Pa./Gwynedd-Mercy Acad.), Nicole Ng (Saratoga, Calif./St. Francis HS), Sara Reinprecht (North Wales, Pa./Mt. St. Joseph’s HS), Elizabeth Schlossberg (Chevy Chase, Md./Pennsylvania), Paige Schmidt (Westtown, Pa./Tower School), Laura Suchoksi (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Wyoming Seminary), Mallory Weisen (Middleburg, Pa./Middleburg HS) and Jamie Whitten (Maidens, Va./Wake Forest Univ.).

Crandall, Kathryn Elenz-Martin (Encinitas, Calif./LaCosta HS), Ashley Judge (Wilmington, Del./North Carolina), Caitlyn McCurdy (Montaintop, Pa./Crestwood HS) and Kelly Slattery (St. Louis, Mo./Iowa) will make their USA junior national team debuts with the U.S. U19 team in 2004.

In addition to All-America selections Kasold, Suchoski, Suggs and Williams, U19 members Ng, Reinprecht, Schmidt, Suchoski and Weisen earned high school All-America accolades in 2003.

Alternates selected for the two squads include Lauren Ehrlichman (Wellesley, Mass./Princeton), Kelly Giles (Williamsburg, Va./William & Mary), Allie Howard (Lititz, Pa./Univ. of Richmond), Shannon Karl (Centerville, Pa./William & Mary), Kristen madden (Concord, N.H./Boston College), Tiffany Marsh (Marathon, N.Y./Maryland), Jennifer McDavitt (Walpole, Mass/Harvard), Brooke Miller (Hummelstown, Pa./North Carolina), Sarah Miller (Lititz, Pa./Virginia), Caroline Nichols (Watertown, Mass./Virginia), Heather Schnepf (Medford Lakes, N.H./Univ. of Iowa) and Casey Smith (Virginia Beach, Va./Virginia Commonwealth).

            Athletes were invited to participate in A Camp based on performances in other USA Field Hockey programs and events. Athletes are then selected to the USA junior national teams by a team of USA Field Hockey selectors based on performances at A Camp. USA National Team coach Beth Anders and assistant head coach Nick Conway conducted the annual selection camp, Jan. 2-4 at the team’s National Training Center in Virginia Beach. USA Field Hockey is currently conducting a search for a women’s junior team head coach who will oversee the U19 and U21 teams.

2004 USA Field Hockey Under-21 Team

2004 USA Field Hockey Under-19 Team