May 21, 2010
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -
Five Providence College field hockey players earn rosters spots with U.S. High Performance Training Squads. Two-time All-America selection Nellie Poulin (Oakland, Maine) and rising seniors Julie Ruggieri (Barrington, R.I.), Ashlyn Hudson (Stoughton, Mass.) and Jaime Lipski (Dallas, Pa.) will train with the senior Boston squad. Rising sophomore Nikki Fernandez (Tewksbury, Mass.) will train with the junior New England squad.
All five players will look to make the travel roster for the 2010 U.S. Field Hockey Women's National Championships held in Virginia Beach, Va. on June 19-26. Poulin is looking to compete in her third-straight Women's National Championship and Lipski is vying for her second appearance. Ruggieri, Hudson and Fernandez will train to earn their first selection to their respective teams.
Last year, Poulin finished the Women's National Championship as the tournament's top scorer. She tallied five goals in six games.
Held in conjunction with the National Futures Championship, the USA Field Hockey Senior Women's National Championship is a pool-play tournament featuring the top athletes from USA Field Hockey's eight senior regional High Performance Centers. The newly established Junior Women's National Championship features teams from four High Performance Centers and will feature round-robin play.
Beginning in the early spring, High Performance Centers serving Boston, California, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, New Jersey, North, Pennsylvania and the South conduct open trials for college-age and older athletes. The Junior Teams hail from the Mid-Atlantic, New England, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and are comprised of eligible athletes under the age of 21. Once selected to a High Performance Center, athletes receive elite-level training from some of the nation's top coaches over the course of the spring.
At the conclusion of the programs, each High Performance Center selects a team to represent its region at the National Championships. Athletes competing in the tournaments have the opportunity for selection to various U.S. programs, including the U.S. Under-21 Team and the U.S. National Team.
Rosters at the Championship include current U.S. National Team stars as well as recent college All-America selections.
Travel rosters for those who will compete in the Women's National Championships will be announced within the first two weeks of June.
