As you might have expected, some of the more prominent players from the United States’ indoor national field hockey side which won this month’s Rohrmax Cup have also been tapped for competing for the senior women’s national side in the FIH Indoor World Cup.
The American roster has two of the most compelling players you’ll ever see in Erin Matson and Reese D’Ariano, whose talent and exploits have been described elsewhere on this blog.
But there are some other players who deserve your attention. How about former Boston College back Sarah Johnson, who is playing in her third Indoor World Cup? I think there is also going to be a great emphasis on physicality as well as skill and technique. Charly Bruder, the Virginia undergraduate, and Opal Sparling, the Hill School junior, are two players who are well known for their ball speed, even in the indoor game where driven shots are forbidden.
I also think that two players who were additions to the team not on the Rohrmax Cup side, Annika Herbine and Sabrina McGroarty, will be incredibly important to the fortunes of the U.S. team. So too will be Ohio State University goalie Liz Tamburro, who made a number of key stops for the United Eagles in their Rohrmax Cup title run.
The Americans, ranked ninth in the world, start their World Cup campaign Feb. 3 against Czechia. And to focus you on this fixture, Czechia is the second-ranked indoor women’s hockey team in the world.
Yep, the world of indoor hockey is somewhat different from outdoor — especially in this World Cup cycle. In the world rankings, nations like Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Namibia, and Austria are in the top dozen.
This year’s World Cup should be a wide-open competition; the two teams that have dominated the medals stand since the inaugural tournament in 2003 are wounded at the moment.
Germany withdrew from the 2023 Indoor World Cup citing schedule congestion with the presence of the finals of the Indoor Bundesliga and FIH Pro League fixtures on the outdoor side.
And what of defending champion Netherlands? The Oranje didn’t qualify for this tournament in the wake of its 2023 shutdown of its indoor program.
This could make the opening day of this tournament extremely interesting.