Back-to-back Junior World Cup Appearances for the Junior Women’s National Team
Field Hockey Canada is excited to announce the 18-player Junior Women’s National Team roster bound for Santiago, Chile in November for the FIH Junior Women’s World Cup.
Canada qualified for the Junior World Cup by finishing top-4 at the Junior Pan American Games in April in Barbados. By defeating Guyana and Barbados, Canada secured top two in their pool and automatically qualified for the World Cup. This qualification marks the second consecutive Junior World Cup that Canada’s women’s team has qualified. Canada’s top finish in the Junior World Cup was in 1989, when the event was hosted in Ottawa and Canada placed seventh.
This year’s World Cup roster returns 13 players from their Pan American team in Barbados and three athletes (Harnoor Malhi, Allison Kuzyk and Arden Goddard-Despot) that have Junior World Cup experience from 2022 in South Africa. Brooke McCusker, Kenzie Girgis and Mallory Mackesy have all been training with the senior Women’s National Team during the summer months and will provide stability and leadership for this team.
Rookies Calista Schwartz and Stella Malinowski make the jump from the U18 national team into the U21 environment for this event. Molly Koop from U of T, UBC’s Liz Mathisen and Ohio State goalkeeper Abby Danson round out the new additions to this junior national team.
Jenn Beagan returns as the Head Coach for this squad with Laura Dowling in the assistant coach role. Beagan, who will be coaching at her second Junior World Cup, said this group has been building together for over a year in preparation for the Junior World Cup. The experience at Pan Ams in April is vital for development and giving these athletes international experience. She adds that because of the transiant nature of the team (athletes are split up all over the continent playing college and university hockey), taking advantage of international reps is critical.
“This team is unique because we don’t get to train together throughout the year. We rely on digital meetings, to connect throughout the year while athletes are away playing for their universities and only get to come together for short periods of time for training camps and games,” she said. “The 13 returning from Barbados got first-hand experience of the pace of the game at international level. The world class level and the games against Uruguay, Chile and Argentina specifically at JPAC are an opportunity for us to learn, grow and get better.”
The team will face India, Belgium and Germany in the group stage before moving onto the crossover games. Beagan said that the opportunity to play at a Junior World Cup is not only a quality experience, but it can set these athletes up for a future of high performance hockey with the senior national team.
“The Junior World Cup is really an amazing experience, for these athletes at the U21 age group it is the highest possible level and to qualify for this event two cycles in a row says a lot about the pathway and development we have been working toward over the last few years,” Beagan said. “For this group to not only compete against the best teams in the world, but to watch the top teams compete in person against each other, in a vibrant and exciting environment is something they will remember and reflect on forever.”
ROSTER
| PLAYER NAME | POSITION | HOMETOWN | COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Julia Boraston | DEF | Victoria, BC | University of Victoria |
| Katie Gibb | DEF | Vancouver, BC | Lafayette College |
| Kaitlyn Pennefather | DEF | North Vancouver, B.C. | University of British Columbia |
| Calista Schwartz | DEF | Vancouver, BC | Monmouth University |
| Isabella Green | DEF | Duncan, BC | University of Calgary |
| Laine Delmotte | MID | North Vancouver, BC | Lafayette College |
| Emily Chisholm | MID | Burlington, ON | GoA Reds FHC |
| Libby Hogg | MID | Victoria, BC | University of Victoria |
| Elizabeth Mathisen | MID | West Vancouver, BC | University of British Columbia |
| Madeline Skeans | MID | Calgary, AB | University of Toronto |
| Imogen Govan | FWD | Oakville, ON | Brown University |
| Molly Koop | FWD | St. Catherines, ON | University of Toronto |
| Allison Kuzyk | FWD | Vancouver, BC | University of Pennsylvania |
| Mallory Mackesy* | FWD | Stoney Creek, ON | University of Maine |
| Nicole Poulakis | FWD | Ajax, ON | University of New Hampshire |
| Abby Danson | GK | Clifton Park, NY | Ohio State University |
| Kayla Desormeau | GK | Waterloo, ON | Mercyhurst University |
| STAFF | ROLE | ||
| Jenn Beagan | Head Coach | ||
| Laura Dowling | Assistant Coach | ||
| Dave Cox | Video Analyst | ||
| Nicky Graham | Manager | ||
| Justine Branco | Athletic Therapist | ||
| Kate Perry | Performance Sciences |
*Pending possible WNT Commitments
JOIN OUR JOURNEY
Field Hockey Canada encourages local, provincial and national sponsors to get involved with our ‘Join our Journey’ sponsorship campaign. The initiative is inclusive of the entire Canadian field hockey community and gives organizations and companies the opportunity to join Field Hockey Canada on the journey to international success at all levels.
With your support as part of our team, we can achieve even more and in doing so amplify your voice and business too through our local, national and international communities.
