Gilroy’s Infinity Field Hockey Club is making even more noise at
the regional – and national – field hockey level.
Gilroy – Gilroy’s Infinity Field Hockey Club is making even more noise at the regional – and national – field hockey level.
The Infinity had nine players qualify for the USA Field Hockey Futures Region 11 Tournament, held May 21-22 in Berkeley. This past weekend, the under-16 team played in the California Cup in Moorpark, taking third out of 28 teams.
At the regional tournament, Karlie Sandoval, 16, qualified as an under-19 and Stephanie Glenn, 15, as an under-16 for July’s national championships for the Futures program, USA Field Hockey’s Olympic Development initiative which develops a player pool for U.S. national and Olympic teams.
The increase in participation at the regional competition alone was a big step for Infinity. In 2000, the program only had one player qualify for Regionals, said Infinity coach Erin Gemar. Before this year, the most the club had ever had qualify in a single year was two.
This is the second year that Sandoval has qualified for the National Futures Championship, but this year, she competed at a higher level, in the under-19 bracket.
At regional competition, players are grouped into teams with players they haven’t faced in previous Futures competition, Gemar said. Sandoval played for Team Russia.
“The competition Karlie was up against, she was in a different league than with the under-16 (division),” Gemar said. “She stood out … Watching the Russian team, she was one of the top four players.”
At the tournament, Sandoval played center midfield, the position the junior plays with the Gilroy High team. Gemar said Sandoval showed solid stick handling and passing skills and was able to “hold her own” at the difficult position with the upper level players, which isn’t an easy task.
“You might claim that position but then when you play with better players, they look at you like, ‘You’re crazy. You’ve got to be one of the best players to play that position,'” Gemar said. “But she was able to move right into that position.”
Gemar said Glenn, who played with the under-16 division, proved herself as one of the best goalies in her age group.
“It’s tough to know what the selection committee is looking for,” Gemar said. “But we walked away that day confident she would get chosen. She stood out. Her quickness and hand-eye coordination were really on. She played some of her best hockey that day.”
The regional tournament drew players from all over the West Coast, not just California, Gemar said. But the national tournament will pit Glenn and Sandoval against players from all over the country, which will make it a more competitive event. But Gemar said it’s good exposure.
“We’re trying to get them to compete against more East Coast players because they are at a higher level.”
At the California Cup, which drew teams from as far away as India and Taiwan, the under-16 team went undefeated in pool play before losing its first semifinal game 2-1 to a team from Canada. But Infinity bounced back and won a triple-overtime third-place game against a Vancouver-based team. Erin Magill scored in the third overtime on the 24th penalty stroke to seal the win.
Gemar said Deena Morsilli saved the game and forced it to overtime with a key defensive play in the final minutes of regulation.
During the first set of penalty strokes, Kelly Perkins scored to send the game to a second overtime. In the second overtime, Lindsey Valadez tied up the two teams once more with a big goal. Glenn played solid defense in goal throughout regulation and overtime.
“This group was made up of seventh through 10th graders that hadn’t had a lot of experience together and you could tell at the beginning (of the tournament),” Gemar said. “They improved so much, as well as being able to communicate. They made so much progress. It was fun to watch.”
