Canada’s women’s field hockey team will soon be in game action when it hits the field next week for an inter-squad series to prepare for the 2017 Pan American Cup in August.
The three-game series will be played on July 11th, 13th, and 19th at UBC’s Wright Field in Vancouver, British Columbia with all start times set for 7pm. Friends, family, and fans are welcome to come watch the high level of hockey.
“The Super Series serves multiple purposes,” says Women’s National Team Head Coach Ian Rutledge. “First and foremost it gives our Pan Am Cup team some much needed game action. And it gives us an opportunity to put into practice what we have been working on in training.”
The series serves two other purposes, Rutledge adds, giving the remaining athletes in the larger Women’s squad a last chance to crack the Pan Am Cup roster, which has one spot still vacant. Lastly, it offers an opportunity to showcase and evaluate a group of Next Generation athletes in game in action.
The matches will be contested in three-different formats and will feature a host of players – past and present – including all the athletes recently named to the women’s Pan Am Cup team, other athletes currently within the senior and junior squads who, and three Women’s National Team alumni who return to action in the National environment: Katie Baker, Thea Culley, and Sarah Keglowitsch.
The first game of the series on July 11th will be played in an “East vs West” format, with Pan Am Cup athletes divided equally between the two teams.
The West roster features Pan Am Cup team members Kaitlyn Williams in goal, defenders Sara McManus and Karli Johansen, midfielders Danielle Hennig and Hannah Haughn, and strikers Rachel Donohoe and Steph Norlander.
Among others, it also includes alumnus Keglowitsch, and Junior Development Squad athletes Izzy Fraser and Anna Mollenhauer, who is the daughter of Women’s National Team alumni and Olympian Nancy Mollenhauer.
The East roster features – among others – Pan Am Cup captain Kate Wright, goalkeeper Rowan Harris, striker Brienne Stairs, the Woodcroft sisters, and young defenders Alison Lee and Hannah Eborall.
Alumni Culley and Baker are also representing the East, as well as juniors Abby McLennan and Jordyn Faiczac, who recently made her senior debut at the 2017 World League Round 2 in West Vancouver.
The second game of the series on July 13th focuses on the Pan Am Cup attackers and defenders, splitting them up and pitting them against each other.
The third and final game of the series on July 19th will feature the entire 18-player Pan American Cup team (with the 18th athlete expected to be named after the first two games) taking on the remaining athletes in the series, who makeup a roster of All-Stars that includes the likes of the three alumni, senior midfielder Kathleen Leahy, and standout juniors Thora Rae, and Margaret Pham.
The Pan American Cup kicks off on August 5th for Canada’s women when they face Brazil 12PM local time in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Canada’s Women’s National Team is hosting a fundraiser on July 15th at Mahony and Sons at the University of British Columbia. Details and tickets are available here.
