WC Eagles Field Hockey Club

WC Eagles named to US Select Groups

Three W C Eagles players, Megan Deakins, Taryn Gjurich, and Katie Gerzabek have been selected to the 2009 USA Olympic Development Select - this group of players has been identified as the top 50 players in the USA Futures program

Katie Gerzabek has also been selected to the 2009 USA Futures Elite along with Kelsey Bryne and Emily Valeo.

These selections were made based on their performances at the National Futures Championships, the Junior Olympics, and National Junior Training Camp, and the players will be offered additional National Training opportunities during the year.

Congratulations to each of these players

2008/9 indoor Season - Under 12 Training

Under 12 Players - U12 players interested in joining the W C Eagles Training Program should send an e-mail to Jun@WCFieldhockey.com for further information about the program which will start in November.

Our three W C Eagles teams played very well at the National Hockey Festival returning home from California with Gold Medals in both the U16 and U19 Divisions and also a second place finish in the U16 division.

The most pleasing thing was to see every player improve with each game and our teams playing attractive attacking hockey in front of so many college coaches.

Our three teams played a combined total of 18 games, winning 14, tying 3, and loosing only one game, and outscoring our opponents 53 - 8 - a remarkable achievement!

On Thanksgiving day the President of the International Hockey Federation, Els van Breda Vriesman, spent time with our players along with other members of the International Hockey Federation from all over the world, and talked about hockey in other countries and their experiences. Our players also met the World Hockey Players of the Year Luciana Aymar from Argentina and Pol Amat from Spain.

Our W C Eagles U16 and U19 teams played very well at the national Disney Showcase Tournament in Orlando Florida over the past four days, both teams winning their Pools to make the tournament quarter finals and our U16 going on to bring home the coveted gold medals.

Our U19 team came through a very strong pool with five wins against Spirit Eagles, Cyclones, Delaware Shore, Peninsula Lightning, and Spitfire and a 1 - 1 tie in an excellent game with the Spirit USA in front of a large crowd of college coaches. With both teams equal on points our U19's moved into the quarter finals with a far superior goal difference, scoring 26 goals while conceding only two, and topped all the teams in their age group scoring the most goals. However, on Sunday morning after a couple of early close misses we came up against a hot goalkeeper with Central New York and a short loss of concentration in the middle of the first half saw us quickly 3 - 0 down! We played a strong 2nd half, building our play with good short passes, regaining control of the game, and creating a number of opportunities but could not reduce the deficit. I was very pleased with the overall performance of the team which played fast attacking hockey led by Paula Heimbach from the back who had an outstanding tournament.

Our U16 had a stellar tournament coming home undefeated, scoring 19 goals and our goalkeepers Sammy Carlino and Ainslie Rhodes conceding none. Having won their Pool they moved into the quarter-final against IFHCK - two early goals, one from Moira Putsch and a superb shot from Maggie Kochinski, quickly put W C Eagles in control against the talented Kentucky team and through to the semi-final. The semi-final saw a nail biting affair, having total field domination throughout the game we hit everything except the back of the net as the play rarely left the Buckeye Blast's defensive end and were forced into penalty strokes to decide the game. Four solid strokes and an excellent save by Ainslie Rhodes saw us through to the Final against a very strong Jersey Intensity team featuring six Olympic Development players. The large crowd was not disappointed as these two very good teams played excellent hockey. Fortunately Kelsey LeBlanc, maybe inspired by the large Disney showcase banner featuring our own Megan Deakins which welcomed all the players to the field for the Final, put on a Deakinsesque display, working tirelessly to dominate the midfield with a tremendous display of stickwork and passing to keep us on the attack and in the 18th minute from one of the ensuing penalty corners Moira Putsch, who had celebrated her 13th birthday only three days before, deftly deflected the ball into the net to score what would be the winning goal.

In a very fine team performance Jenna Seibert grew from strength to strength at the back, Maggie Kochinski had a superb game in the final with strong runs on the left wing, and Emily Paolino made some timely tackles, but it really was a very good team effort with everyone showing good skills, working tremendously hard, and playing strong attacking hockey for the entire game.

It was a very proud moment when our players were announced one by one and climbed up to the stage to receive their well earned gold medals and the Winners Trophy as their club-mates had done in 2007!

Congratulations to both teams you played very well!

Your coach

Jun

Four W C Eagles teams, our U14 Blue, U16 Gold, U16 Black, and U19 Blue, were crowned National Pool Champions at the National Indoor Tournament in Virginia Beach last weekend - and two teams U19 Gold and U16 Blue finished 2nd in their Pools.

Congratulations to all nine of our teams which qualified for the NIT on playing so well, the results speak volumes for the hard work all the players put in during the training sessions throughout the season and in the tournaments leading up to the NIT.

Our U14 Blue team won every game, finishing with a 7 - 0 record and scoring the most goals and conceding the least number of goals of any team in any age group with a 51 - 1 goal differential - a remarkable team effort by this very talented group of young players.

Our U16 Gold team finished with a 6 -1 record and topped their Pool in goal scoring, lead by Paige Haley with 18 goals and Emily Paolino who dominated in midfield.

Our U16 Black conceded only four goals as they finished with a 7 - 0 record behind the strong goalkeeping of Ainslie Rhodes.

And our U19 Blue won the coveted U19 Pool A crown also finishing with a 7 - 0 record scoring 34 goals and conceding only 5 against the top indoor teams in the country. For Amy Donovan, Emily Valeo and Tori Lindsey this was their second U19 Pool A Championship.

The U19 Gold suffered two heartbreaking one goal losses on the last day after having won their first five games to just fall out of 1st place and the U16 Blue team got off to a slow start and despite beating the eventual Pool champions could not catch up and had to settle for 2nd place.

A special thank you to our coaches, Erin, Jackie, Peter, Aubrey, and Claudia who has done an outstanding job coaching our goalkeepers, for all your hard work and dedication to our players.

Congratulations once again to all our teams at the NIT.

Under 12, Under 14, and Under 16 Win National Indoor Club Championships

W C Eagles won three age groups at the National Indoor Club Championships held at Feasterville, PA

The W C Eagles Under 12 team kept their season's unbeaten streak intact with a 5 - 0 record, scoring 32 goals and conceding only 2 to claim the U12 National Indoor Club Championship in dominating style. Nikki Freeman, Izzy McDonough and Megan D'Ginto controlled the games for W C Eagles with their speed and stickwork, and goalkeeper Rosie Kalis and Sophie Graeff were key in defense.

The W C Eagles Under 14 Blue team breezed through their Pool winning all five games against teams from Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia without conceding a goal. In the Semi-Final they beat Green Turtle from Maryland, and played very well in the Final to beat Jersey Intensity 5 -1. This was a strong team performance with everyone contributing to keep a high standard of play and also stay unbeaten in U14 play this year.

In the Under 16 Division, the W C Eagles U16 Blue team also went home with a 7 - 0 record and the National Indoor Club Championship Title. Playing their best hockey of the season, W C Eagles moved the ball at speed, with quick passes, deft stickwork, and clinical finishing. Kelsey LeBlanc worked tirelessly to control the mid-field, Maggie Kochinski scored some important goals, Katie Gerzabek was powerful and accurate at short corners, and Sammy Carlino thwarted the opposition with sound goalkeeping. Saving their best game for last, the W C Eagles defeated Mystx 7 - 0 in the Final with crisp passing and strong finishing.

W C Eagles Under 12 Team Completes Undefeated Season

The W C Eagles Under 12 Team has finished its 2009 indoor season undefeated. Winning all of their 17 tournament games and compiling an amazing record of 113 goals for and only 24 goals against in tournament play.

The 2009 Undefeated W C Eagles U12 Squad is: Maggie Cancelmo, Megan D’Ginto, Nikki Freeman, Sophie Graeff, Mackenzie Hahn, Whitney Harris, Rosie Kalis, Izzy McDonough, Alexa Ostoich,Christy Palazzese, Romea Riccardo, Geeta Sharma, Laura Shelton, Emma Velez, Caitlyn Yergey, Amy Zurkowski, and is coached by Jun Kentwell

Nine W C Eagles Teams Qualify for the 2009 National Indoor Tournament

Five W C Eagles U16 teams, three U19 teams and the undefeated U14 Blue team have qualified for the USA Field Hockey National Indoor Tournament to be held in Virginia Beach from the 6th - 8th March, 2009.

Three teams won their qualifying tournaments on their way to the NIT - U16 Blue, U16 Black, and the U19 Blue - placing them in the top Pools at the national event.

The teams under the direction of Head Coach Jun Kentwell will compete against the best indoor teams in the country, from California, to New Hampshire, to North Carolina, with the key competition coming from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland.