The Canadian Junior Women’s National Team that will be headed to Trinidad and Tobago for the 2016 Junior Women’s Pan American Championship at the end of March has added goalkeeper Robin Fleming and forward Jordyn Faiczak to its roster after Rowan Harris and Thora Rae were selected to represent the senior National Team at the same time in New Zealand.
Things are progressing rapidly for Rae and Harris, who began the year competing for the Junior National Team in Chile as a tune up for the Junior Pan Ams. Just a month later and their focus has now shifted to the senior team.
Harris was one of three junior athletes to play her first senior international match for Canada in a four-game series with the United States earlier this month (the others were Alexis de Armond and Nikki Woodcroft). Rae is slated to play her first in the senior tour to New Zealand.
“Off the back of a positive debut series, Rowan’s performances demand more senior exposure,” says senior Women’s National Team head coach Ian Rutledge. “Young Thora Rae has impressed in both the U21 Chile Series and Women’s National Team trainings and has demanded our attention and that her performances be rewarded.
The Women’s National Team will be competing in the Hawke’s Bay tournament in New Zealand from April 2-10, where they will face six of the teams that will be competing in the women’s field hockey tournament at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil later this year.
Harris and Rae were previously named to the Junior Women’s National Team set to compete at the Junior Pan American Championships, a Junior Women’s World Cup qualifier, in Trinidad and Tobago from March 29-April 10.
“Following Rowan and Thora’s inclusion in the senior team, we have been able to call upon Robin Fleming and Jordyn Faiczak as replacements,” adds Rutledge. “This will mean that we have been able to provide our next best 24 junior players with the exposure and opportunity to develop and push their way into the senior team.”