USA Field Hockey News

USA Field Hockey 2006-07 Women's U21 Squad Named

Katelyn Falgowski returns to the USA Under-21 squad after helping the team to a 7th place finish at the 2005 Junior World Cup.

Colorado Springs, Colo. – USA Field Hockey has named its 2006-07 Women’s Under-21 Squad following trials at the Junior National Camp in Virginia Beach.

The announcement of the junior squad with its roster of young Olympic hopefuls comes at the two-year out “Countdown to Beijing” and the opening of the 2008 Olympic Games. The Games of the XXIX Olympiad will take place Aug. 8-24, 2008 in Beijing.

The 26-member squad includes 11 selections returning from the 2005 Under-21 team including Kelsey Cutchins (Suffolk, Va.), Katelyn Falgowski (Landenberg, Pa.), Michelle Kasold (Chapel Hill, N.C.), Jennifer Long (Doyelstown, Pa.), Brianna O’Donnell (Collegeville, Pa.), Katie O’Donnell (Blue Bell, Pa.), Lauren Pfeiffer (Mt. Laurel, N.J.), Sarah Reinprecht (North Wales, Pa.), Allison Scola (Hummelstown, Pa.), Kadi Sickel (Plaistow, N.H.) and Laura Suchoski (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.).

Falgowski and Katie O’Donnell were recently selected to the USA National Team’s World Cup training squad in preparation for September’s World Cup in Madrid and were joined by Brianna O’Donnell and Kasold as members of last year’s Junior World Cup team that placed a USA-best 7^th place in Santiago, Chile.

The U21 squad also includes former USA U19Junior Team members Alexandra Malatesta (North Wales, Pa.), Caitlin McCurdy (Mountaintop, Pa.), Katie Reinprecht (North Wales, Pa.) and Allison Tanner (New Providence, Pa.). Athletes making their debuts on the U21 squad include Janelle Avila (North Kingstown, R.I.), Amy Daniels (Mountaintop, Pa.), Meghan Dean (Marathon, N.Y.), Roslynn Ellis (Lewisburg, Pa.), Paige Laytos (Lititz, Pa.), Melissa Martin (Lititz, Pa.), Lauren Miller (Cherry Hills Village, Colo.), Paige Selenski (Shavertown, Pa.), Pamela Spuehler (Sudbury, Mass.), Shannon Taylor (Midlothian, Va.) and Alesha Widdall (Whitney Point, N.Y.).

Squad members will continue training at regionally located High Performance Centers as they prepare for the Pan American Junior Championships in 2008 and the Junior World Cup in 2009. USA Olympian and Univ. of Michigan Associate Head Coach Tracey Fuchs currently serves as the head coach of the under-21 squad.

At 16 years, one month, Selenski is the youngest of the players selected to the squad, edging out fellow 16-year-old Widdall (16 years, 7 months.)

The Reinprecht sisters, Sarah (a sophomore at Princeton Univ.) and Katie (a junior at Mount St. Joseph Academy), continue a line of sibling teammates on USA Field Hockey squads that includes current National Squad members Rachel and Sarah Dawson (Berlin, N.J.) as well as 2001 National Squad teammates Kelli and Kristi Gannon (Escondido, Calif.), 2001 U21 teammates Natalie and Alexis Martirosian (Richmond, Va.) and current USA men’s national squad members Patrick and Sean Harris (Moorpark, Calif.).

2006-07 USA Under-21 Squad