USA Field Hockey News
 

National Team members Angie Loy, Sara Silvetti, Melissa Leonetti and Lauren Powley (center) celebrate the Maryland HPC's victory at the 2006 Women's National Championship.

USA Field Hockey to Crown Women’s National Champion Team in Virginia Beach
Schedule | Results | Rosters

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Field Hockey's top female athletes will compete for a national title and a spot on the U.S. National Team when USA Field Hockey conducts its Women’s National Championship Tournament, June 17-24 at the USA Field Hockey National Training Center in Virginia Beach, Va.

The tournament features six elite-level teams of current national team members and top college players selected from USA Field Hockey’s regionally-based High Performance Centers. Located in regions rich in field hockey tradition, the Centers provided athletes training and development opportunities at locations near their homes. Following a series of regularly-scheduled training sessions, the Centers select their top players to compete in the National Championship Tournament.

Following the format of an international tournament, teams representing California, Maryland, Midwest, New England, Pennsylvania/New Jersey and the South will begin play June 17 and continue through the championship and classification games on June 24. June 19 and 22 are rest days with no games scheduled. There is no charge for admission to the tournament.

Players will compete under the watchful eyes of USA Head Coach Lee Bodimeade and Technical Director Terry Walsh who will select the 2007-08 U.S. National Team at the conclusion of the tournament.  USA Field Hockey’s nominations to the U.S. Pan American Games team will also be publicly announced following the tournament. All Pan Am Games team nominations are subject to approval by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).

“It is essential to reduce the gap between international hockey levels and our domestic hockey levels,” said Walsh on the program. “Through the High Performance Center Program we can accomplish that goal. We have the opportunity to expose new concepts to the best players in the USA brought together to play in the same tournament.”

The tournament rosters include all current members of the U.S. National squad with team members assigned to each of the tournament’s High Performance Center team. Among the national team representatives on the regional teams, USA captain and two-time Pan Am Games selection Kate Barber will compete for California HPC, former Univ. of Maryland standouts Keli Smith, Lauren Powley and Dina Rizzo will compete for the defending champion Maryland HPC while WorldHockey All-Star goalkeeper Amy Tran and former Boston Univ. assistant coach Tiffany Snow will represent New England HPC.

National team members will also compete for the regions where they played their collegiate field hockey including Kelly Doton, Lauren Crandall and Michelle Kasold of Wake Forest and Rachel Dawson of the Univ. of North Carolina will compete for the South HPC while Midwest alumnae April Fronzoni (Michigan), Kayla Bashore (Indiana) and Barb Weinberg (Iowa) will compete for the Midwest HPC. The Pennsylvania/New Jersey HPC team includes home-grown products Angie Loy (Loysville, Pa.) and Sarah Dawson (Berlin, N.J.).

The tournament rosters also feature a host of 2006 collegiate All-America selections including  California HPC team members Vianney Campos (Univ. of the Pacific) and U.S. National team member Dana Sensenig (Old Dominion), Maryland HPC members Nicole Muracco (Univ. of Maryland) and U.S. National Team member Caroline Nichols (Old Dominion), Midwest HPC players Mary Fox (Univ. of Michigan) and Jessica Javelet (Louisville), Pennsylvania/New Jersey athletes Laura Suchoski (Duke) and Jennifer Ford (Penn State), South HPC members Christine Suggs (Wake Forest), Amy Stopford (Duke) and Jamie Whitten (Wake Forest) and New England HPC members Pamela Spuehler (Boston Univ.) and Lauren Sickel (Providence).

www.usafieldhockey.com