Heading into 2025, the U.S. women’s national field hockey team will be looking to win its way back into the FIH Pro League after having been relegated in the last cycle.
The team looking to make it back is going to give us a look at the kind of team likely to form in the runup to the 2028 Olympics. Will it be a technical side, a quick side, or a group of players with varying talents?
Our first look at the future of the U.S. team came out today in a roster for a tour of New Zealand, one which will include a handful of games and two internationals against the Black Sticks Women.
For me, the most interesting name on the U.S. touring roster is Makenna Webster, who is currently on the roster of the Ohio State women’s ice hockey team. She is a dynamic athlete who was one of the reasons the Buckeyes were such a fun field hockey team to watch last fall.
The tour of New Zealand takes place in the heart of the ice hockey season. The days of the two official field hockey fixtures at New Zealand, Jan. 17 and 18, coincide with Ohio State’s series at Minnesota-Duluth. It could prove to be a critical series in the 2024-25 season in the runup to the postseason. Ohio State and Duluth are fourth and second in the WCHA table, within three points of each other in pursuit of Wisconsin. All three are in the top four of the current U.S. College Hockey Online women’s poll.
I don’t think the U.S. selectors would have taken Webster if she were not going to fit into the plans of the field hockey team in upcoming tournaments.
You could say the same for players such as Jans Croon, Lucy Adams, Sanne Carls, and Katie Dixon. But I think the players to watch, espcially across the front line, are Phia Gladieux and Ryleigh Heck, who are two proven dynamic scorers.
I also think one player who can do a lot of good for her standing within the U.S. program is Northwestern goalkeeper Annabel Skubicz. She was outstanding in her most recent outings in NCAA Division I, and I think she will be given every chance of making the roster for the FIH Nations’ Cup Tournament in Chile.
I think another player to keep your eye on is Cassie Sumfest, who has come off a year’s rehabilitation from knee surgery to make this 22-woman roster. Depending on what happens in New Zealand in January,
I think it will be very interesting to see what kind of team forms for the Nations’ Cup out of the touring team and the ten players mentioned on today’s USA Field Hockey news release who were “strategically not considered” for the tour.