Women’s National Team named for 2017 Pan American Cup in Lancaster, USA

Field Hockey Canada’s Women’s National Program has named the team that will represent Canada at the 2017 Pan American Cup in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from August 5-13 this year.

Seventeen women have been named to the touring roster, with an 18th to be added in the coming weeks after further evaluation in training and the Women’s National Team Super Series (July 11, 13, 19 at 7pm at UBC’s Wright Field).

Canada will compete with seven other nations at the 2017 Pan American Cup, where the continental champion will qualify for the 2018 FIH Women’s World Cup, and the top six teams qualify for the 2021 Pan American Cup.

The Women’s National Program heads into the Pan American Cup with a roster of core athletes who have had lots of play together as a unit.

Sixteen of the athletes named to the team are those who played together in Canada’s last international tournament, the 2017 Hockey World League Round 2 in West Vancouver, with five veterans sitting at over 100 matches played for Canada.

Team captain Kate Wright (Gillis) is poised to break Field Hockey Canada’s all-time games played record for the Women’s National Team. Wright currently sits at 168 international games played, and is anticipated to break the organization’s all-time record in the first game of the Pan American Cup versus the Dominican Republic on August 5th.

A number of National Team veterans – all with more than 100 international matches for Canada under their belt – join Wright on the competition roster, including Danielle Hennig (Kelowna, BC; 132 caps), Hannah Haughn (North Vancouver, BC; 127), Sara McManus (Tsawwassen, BC; 120), and Brienne Stairs (Kitchener, ON; 113).

Making her Senior International debut on the 2017 Pan Am Cup roster is Hannah Eborall (Beamsville, ON). Eborall also made her first Women’s Junior  appearance in Lancaster in 2015, when Canada faced the United States.