USA High Performance Championship Blog: Entry 4

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Three current Syracuse field hockey players and one alumna are competing at USA Field Hockey's High Performance National Championship in College Park, Md. on June 1-8. Rising sophomores Lauren Brooks, Stephanie Hussey and Jordan Page are joining former SU All-American Shannon Taylor on the North squad.

The eight-team showcase held over eight days features the most field hockey players in the country, including collegiate all-stars, current National Team members and members of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team. Athletes will compete for the title of regional champions, but more importantly vie for a spot on the National Team roster and the opportunity to represent the U.S on the international stage.

During the tournament, Hussey will be blogging about her and the team's experiences as they play against the nation's best!

June 4 - Entry 4: Using Every Second

After a needed rest day, we are off to take on our next rival. The game against California was tonight at 6 pm. Up early for breakfast and struggling to coordinate that early, we finally manage to make it to and through breakfast. With such a long day ahead some girls left to go find some kind of entertainment. Megan Bozek (From UNH) took off to Target with a couple of us tagging along. They got back to the dorms and had two packs of grapes and one more thing that we all considered to be the best investment in the entire tournament A PUZZLE. Within 5 minutes of opening the box, the entire team was around the round tables helping to finish the 1000 piece puzzle.

It was scheduled for us to get lunch between 11:00 - 1:30. It was about 1:10 and the entire team was still all upstairs in the common room getting the puzzle done. We finally decided that since lunch was going to close soon to go get at least something before it closed again. All of a sudden we see people are down in the lunch table for seriously a matter of 10 minutes maybe, and they were flying back upstairs to continue with the puzzle. This was our new and absolute best entertainment. 2:45 ticked on the clock, and the only reason we stopped was because we had to go do our heart rate spike.

Out for our usual little walk/run/stretch we went. Some of us had some fruit from lunch and some others had been able to buy some things at target but it was very important that we could fill our bodies with some fuel before we faced California at 6 p.m. Every minute we had off we would dash back upstairs to get some part of the puzzle done.

At 4 p.m. we had our team meeting. We were ready. If we won today's game we actually had an opportunity to make a name for the North squad and be seeded in the top four teams in the tournament, which was not expected for us to do so at all. Around 4:45 we started heading towards the field so we could all get our gear on and be ready so by 5:15 we could start our warm up.

The whistle blew right on schedule and the game started. Soon into the game California scored the first goal, and not long after that California takes there second advantage to put the second one on the board.

This game wasn't about who was the most skillful team but the team who wanted it most and was willing to fight. The time was running out on the clock and we had been able to fight back and dig deeper within us and fight for it tonight. We then tied the game and even got a lead of one.

By now there was about a minute left on the clock and the combination of Tori Albini and Lauren Pfeiffer (U.S. National Team players) made us pay by tying the game 4-4. But as the saying says, “it's not over until the fat lady sings,“ we fought until the very end, literally.

We earned a corner and Shannon was up with Melissa at the top of the circle. The clock ran out and Alesha Widdall (U.S. National Team member) was in cage. Shannon hit the ball and it hit the backboard! We all ran on celebrating. We had won the game, 5-4. We were seeded second in the pool.

We watched the game between Mid-Atlantic and New Jersey. Once that game got done it was official, we were seeded second and Mid-Atlantic was third. Since our game had been during dinner time. We had dinner catered to us at the field. It was delicious. We headed back towards the dorms and showered and got an email with the times and meetings for tomorrow. Soon we hit the sack because even if we had a day off we had to be up early the next morning.

GO NORTH !
Stephanie Hussey

June 2 - Entry 3: First Win

After a good night sleep and a rough loss behind us we were ready to take on Mid-Atlantic. Their roster has a total of 13 players who have either gone to the Olympics, are on the developmental team, are going to the Olympics or are on the U21 National Team, but that didn't mean anything to us at this point.

Woke up early we had to have breakfast between 7 and 8 a.m. Almost the entire team went down at the same time but there was somebody missing and we couldn't figure out who but we just thought that they could have gone earlier and we had simply missed them by a couple of minutes. By 10:15 we had to be at the meeting room in the 1^st floor. As we walked into the meeting we see Megan Bozek (from UNH) on the phone trying to give directions to somebody on how to get here. After walking into the meeting room and almost 5 minutes of repeating herself with the same directions and indications of where to park and what streets to take, she finally clicked. Some of us asked who that was and through the door we see out teammate Megan's younger sister Emma Bozek walk in. We came to find out that since she is still in high school she is required to take an SAT2 for math for her placement in college. This was something she was definitely needing to get into her university and it was her last chance to take it because she had missed the deadline of the late sign-ups, but the twist of this story is she had signed up to take it in a high school close to her house up in NEW YORK! We are sitting in Maryland, and we have a game on the same day. After printing a copy of her passport and asking Georgia (from Yale) for a calculator and some other people for a pencil she was able to take it at a high school close by.

Well after all this was clarified, we began our meeting and we got into our game mode focusing on essential things Mid-Atlantic was most likely to do. We were ready to go. 2 p.m. seemed way too far for some of us and we couldn't wait that long. Once the meeting was over we went for our heart spike again led by Melissa (Gonzalez) and Shannon (Taylor). As we were warming up our legs by jogging around, we saw Emma she park in the wrong place even after all of the instructions Megan gave her! So as we jogged around Emma had to run to the car to move it before he had to pay for a parking ticket.

After a couple of sprints and stretching our bodies the right way we headed to lunch. Some of us had a normal lunch and some others didn't eat much because we knew we wouldn't be able to deal with it when game time came around the corner. We had to be arriving at the field by 1:15, some of us were too anxious that I think the last person on the team got there at around 1:10. We were ready to get this game started up and running.

We finally got on to the field, started warming up and we could feel the energy was different today than yesterday. We were definitely an absolutely different team out there. We cleared off the field and lined up. As we were walking out, you could see their team was no joke at all. We shook hands and off we went. We had our little huddle. Shannon again said a couple of words and as usual Hannah (Prince) broke us off with our North cheer.

The game started and we charged out. We weren't going to play conservative. That was something we could not do against a team like this. The goals started appearing on the scoreboard quickly as Shannon was on fire. If a corner was given it was most likely to end up in a goal. But it was a very close game, we would score then within a minute and a half later they would score. A lot of cards were given out during that game and a lot of video refs (which is like challenging the play in football, where you can question the refs call and ask for a replay). The game was very fast and very close. Carla (Tagliente) took off the substitution sheet we had stuck by the bench and started doing the subs on her own. Every three minutes we had fresh legs coming in to keep the high pressure. Counting down the seconds for this game to be done, the horn went off with North winning against Mid-Atlantic, 6-5, with four goals by Shannon Taylor, one by Jordan Page and one by Erica (from Yale). It was an absolutely crazy game and nerve-wracking until the very end.

Paul (Caddy) and Carla were very proud of us, and even told us that when believing in ourselves we can sometimes overpower talent, and even prove people who didn't believe in us wrong. Once our cool down was done, the Cali vs, New Jersey game had already started. Our next game is going to be against California so some of us stayed to watch. Once that game was done we headed back to the dorms to go grab a bite, took some nice warm showers, relaxed and stretched out our bodies and legs, making sure that we take good care because its only day 3. We quickly got to bed to try to catch our rest.
GO NORTH!

-Stephanie Hussey

June 1 - Entry 2: Let the Games Begin

Our morning started bright and early with a heart rate spike at 6:45 am. It was so early that some of us didn't have our act together. I walked out of my room with my boxers and my running shoes on, looked at myself in the mirror by the elevator, and dashed back into my room to change into shorts! We all crammed into the elevator because we were all about to be “late.” On the way down, it stopped on the 3^rd floor and Maria Elena Bolles (from UConn) quickly jumped back into the elevator. When the doors opened again, for some reason we were on the 8^th floor, and Melissa Gonzales ran into the elevator putting her shirt on. We finally made it to the 1^st floor and soon got counted off and began our run with Shannon and Melissa leading us. We ran around a couple of times to loosen up our legs and did some sprints at 75%, 90% and 100% of speed. The legs were feeling good and prepared for today's game.

At 7 a.m. we had scheduled breakfast, so off we went to grab something to eat. Most of us got cereal and toast or a bagel. Toasting the bagels was quite interesting because the toaster is big to fit many bagels at the same time, but when they slid under once they were done they couldn't be reached with a bare hand because they were too hot and hard to reach. After a moment of efficient team work we soon got all the bagels out; now we were ready for breakfast. We sat on our usual side of the cafeteria and had a nice team breakfast. We all returned to our rooms and started getting ready for our 9 a.m. game. We had a statement to make and wanted to start the tournament the right way.

After our nice long walk to the field everyone seemed made it there by 8:10, except for Melissa and Shannon. Then Paul asked, “and who had the brilliant idea to let them room together?” Three minutes later there they were running through the door apologizing. Quickly we went over the warm up, and off onto the field we went. Lauren, Jordan and I quickly hit the start button on our GPS watches and the miles started counting (we look like the power rangers). Looking good and sharp through warm up, our bodies were prepared for the game. New Jersey on the other side of the field looked like they were doing a fitness test. We got announced on to the field, shook hands, and quickly got into a huddle where Shannon said a couple of motivational things. Finally we broke off in to our positions after Hannah's “North” cheer.

The game started. We battled hard and looked composed for a while and then little by little what the coaches had told us was going to happen began to happen. They started playing the second layer person off the ball, they ran off each other, they hit the diagonal balls and by the time we looked at the score board at half we were down 0-3. Yet we were still in the battle and fighting. We started the 2^nd half standing strong, kept it composed for a little, but the very young and talented team of Jersey did not let us make a mistake without us having to pay consequences for it. The score finished in 7-0. We weren't happy at all with our performance and we knew we could do a lot better.

We left the field, had a brief meeting, the coaches spoke for a little, but the big meeting was going to be later that night at 6 p.m. That gave us all time to analyze the game and where it was that we collapsed so badly. Some of us stayed to watch the other games that afternoon and had lunch on our own. Some others went to the grocery store and got snacks and were even kind enough to see if those that had stayed at the field needed anything (along with being a team on the field, nice unity was building off the field too).

Dinner opened again at 5:00, and since we had an early game the north team was already standing in line at 4:59. Sitting at our usual spot, we had a good laugh about different things that happened throughout the day. 6:00 comes around and we head towards the meeting room. We clear our minds, go over the things that had gone wrong, and work through some other things. We walked out of that meeting all on the same page. As we got on the elevator and the doors open to the 8^th floor where there was a horrendous smell, when we opened the doors we saw everybody's shin guards and wet turf shoes laid out on the hallway for them to dry off and to not stink up the room. We soon collapsed on our beds since our day had started very early and learning from our rough lost, we were ready to take on Mid-Atlantic, who was our next game.

-Stephanie Hussey

May 31 - Entry 1: Moving Day

Our journeys started at different ends of the country. From San Diego, to Miami, to Lancaster, Penn., we all gathered together at the University of Maryland. We had to check in by 3 p.m. When we got all checked in, we headed up to our rooms and met our roommates. It felt like freshmen year all over again! Living in a dorm, eating at the cafeteria, not knowing who would be living on our floor during our time here, and showering in the bathroom down the hall brought back so many great memories for us! After exploring the dorm, we met the girls that lived in the rooms around us and started socializing with them, too. Some of us bumped into a couple of girls that we have met from previous years, and caught up with them, which was fun. When I spoke with the California girls (who are living on the eighth floor with us) and heard they had already had their third practice of the day, and they had also scrimmaged! At this point, we hadn't even had one practice yet! We were just now settling in.

Soon, 5:30 p.m. rolled around and we had to meet with our team at the field. We had seen all of our teammates except for Melissa Gonzalez and Shannon Taylor at this point. At 5:45, Paul (Caddy) put me in charge of the warm-up as the coaches went to make some photocopies of a couple of handouts for us. We finish warming up and we looked over to the field and Shannon was warming up alone. We started heading out to the field a few minutes before 6. All of the practices are timed, so each team got an hour of time on the field with a stick and ball. Once we settle down, Shannon joined us. We were excited, and we asked her “Hey Shan… how are you? Where is Melissa?” We got an unenthusiastic response back. She explained to us that Melissa had been sick all day. We were a little worried, but she has been able to bounce back with a little rest. Shortly, we started warming up and quickly got into the drills. Melissa walked on to the field the next time the coaches brought us in to explain a drill. Paul Caddy, the assistant field hockey coach at UConn, officially introduced them. He then named Shannon and Melissa the captains of the North Team. We finished practice with penalty corners. It was very funny watching Melissa and Shannon's faces as they tried to memorize all of the corners in such a short span of time. The deflectors on corners were shocked at the high speed balls that were being ripped towards the cage by Syracuse alum and current national team player Shannon Taylor. The ball would fly by the girls and they would look like a deer in headlights with their eyes open wide, thinking, “Wait where did the ball go?” Once time was up and practice was over, we brought it in and finished practice off the right way with our wonderful cheer! Our “cheerleader” Hannah Prince (of UMass) broke down the practice with a “north on 3 … 1 …2…3 ...NORTH.”

We walked off the field and the next team was soon getting ready to practice. Carla and Paul start handing out handouts of our schedule, corners, and other beneficial tournament information. Since practice had been from 6 to 7, the dining hall was closed when we finished, so we missed dinner. Heading back to the dorms, we took off squishing eight people into a car that comfortably fits five. Hoping no cops saw us, we came back to the dorms, dropped off our bags, and got into the car again. We went to Noodles & Company to get dinner and bring it back for the team.

Later in the evening, we went downstairs to the seventh floor and had a team meeting. We reviewed the starting lineup, and the two people who were going to be sitting out for the game were announced too. We went over tactics and tendencies. It was a brief meeting, and soon we headed to bed since we had to wake up at 6:45 for our heart spike the next morning. Ready to face New Jersey! Here we go North!!

-Stephanie Hussey

Syracuse University Athletics

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