When I got to Virginia Beach last week, the U-19 tournaments in both the Rumble and the National Futures divisions had yet to start, but all anyone could talk about was Team Scranton.

“They’re loaded,” everyone was telling me.

The results — 33 goals scored and one conceded in six 50-minute matches – speak for themselves. To me, Scranton’s 2008 team could have absolutely defeated just about every single U-19 champion which has ever been crowned at the NFT (the Cape May teams of the late 90s notwithstanding).

The result points up a problem: how fair is it when a region is responsible for more than one team can much name a roster and “load up” one of its entries at the expense of another?

I knew one Futures administrator who was an admitted loader; the idea was to see what kind of hockey could be played when the absolute best players in a region pushed themselves physically and mentally. Would those “next-level” skills be more likely to be on display if every player on a regional team had that something extra, and not just half of them?

Of course, a couple of days ago, I described some of the golazos scored on the part of Scranton in their gold-medal match with San Diego. I kind of wish I had gotten to watch the semifinal game with Syracuse, which was a 7-1 win. (I didn’t get to see that match because I was across Landstown Road watching Chaos defeat Bedlam in the U-19 Rumble final.)

That Syracuse team, coached ably by Lynn Farquar, did very well to get to the semifinals, even though it didn’t have the services of an excellent, record-breaking player from the New York Futures region who did not attend the National Futures Tournament this year.

More on that tomorrow.

I’m kind of thinking out loud today, regarding where the next iterations of USA Field Hockey youth championship tournaments are going to be held.

Is there to be an expanded National Futures Tournament with no Regional Rumble? Is there going to be a scaling back of participants to 2004 levels?

Ultimately, the question is whether there are places in the United States which have more than one water-based turf pitch, plus a number of either good grass or artificial grass pitches nearby for the Rumble, a banquet hall for anywhere from one to two thousand people, and reasonably easy transportation tying all of them together.

I’ll give you a few thoughts (ok, not very well thought-out), but it’ll give you an idea of how difficult USA Field Hockey’s decision will be:

Boston/Cambridge, Mass.: Will be hosting next year’s women’s Junior World Cup. Plenty of lodging space at Harvard University and Harvard Business School, the latter of which has been undergoing a major expansion. Hockey-specific stadia at Harvard, Boston College, Northeastern, MIT, and acres of grass pitches at Soldiers’ Field next to Harvard Stadium, which is carpeted with artificial grass.

Newark, Del.: Rullo Stadium is a side-by-side water-based turf and there are a number of schools nearby with artificial grass, including Caravel Academy. It’s possible to use facilities at the University of Delaware to house the players and perhaps hold an annual banquet.

Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University has the only water-based turf in Mercer County now that The College of New Jersey had to replace the Lions Stadium turf with artificial grass. A number of high schools in the area have artificial grass, with at least one more in the next two years. There is no large convention center, but Jadwin Gymnasium is a massive facility at Princeton and has held numerous dinners and banquets over the years.

St. Louis/Fenton, Mo.: There are plenty of grass athletic fields and two turf fields at the Anheuser-Busch Complex just west of downtown. The America’s Center Convention hall is located in the shadow of the Gateway Arch. A number of sizable hotels lie near the airport.

Colorado Springs, Colo: The headquarters of the United States Olympic Committee is at altitude. Lack of a hockey-specific stadium currently in place is a detriment.

San Diego/Chula Vista, Calif.: The current site of USA Field Hockey’s training center, Chula Vista, is only a few miles south of here. The San Diego Convention Center can host events of up to 30,000 people, so a banquet featuring Rumble and NFT participants would not be a problem, and neither would hotel rooms.

So, if the National Futures Tournament and the Regional Rumble do move out of Virginia Beach, where do you think they will go?

A few minutes after the U-19 gold-medal match at the National Futures Tournament, I pulled out a set of bagpipes and played a simple tune called “When The Battle Is O’er.”

I left the site wondering if this was going to be the last time that the National Training Center at Virginia Beach was going to host the National Futures Tournament.

Of course, as reported previously, the U.S. women’s national team has stated its intention to train somewhere else because of a dispute involving facility improvements. Indeed, the women have been training in Chula Vista, Calif. in recent months.

Now, I’m not in the business of reporting rumor as fact. However, TopOfTheCircle.com has learned from two independent sources that there is some kind of deal being brokered, including the National Training Center, the soccer-specific stadium next door, and the right to develop land around it, including adjacent land and the acreage leading into the parking lots.

Given the encroachment of big-box retail over the last few years — one such center being almost completely finished a half mile down Dam Neck Road in the Princess Anne region of town – this isn’t surprising.

However, we also know from previous reporting that there will still be field hockey played at the Training Center going forward. We know that from the fact that there is a contract in place for the Virginia High School League as well as plans for more Virginia Beach Public School neutral-site games.

What is unknown is the timing. It’s not likely that, given the time pressures of preparing the U.S. women’s national team for Olympic play in seven weeks, that a lot of time is being devoted to the sale. A final deal is not likely to take place until August at the earliest.

The landscape of the Virginia Beach Sportsplex may change even further: read this story about the man who was supposed to have bought into the Virginia Beach Mariners and who actually wound up causing a further mess when it came out that he was actually bankrupt. Go down to the final bullet point as to what the International Sports Partners was supposed to be buying:

“Possible bid on 70 acre development rights” – for a property next to the Sportsplex that the city owns and wants to develop.

Complicating matters is that there are many sports teams willing to use the facility. Major League Lacrosse has scheduled a game there. Another USL team, the Nashville Metros, are also reportedly coming to the Sportsplex next year.

But what could make things very complicated are the Washington Redskins. One of the world’s most valuable sports franchises has been considering moving its training camp from its home in Ashburn, Va. down to Hampton Roads. Read this paragraph from the story, though:

The potential Redskins deal comes as city officials are working on a separate proposal from a handful of professional baseball players from Hampton Roads who want to build a baseball clinic and sports training facility near the Sportsplex.

Things could, I believe, get very, very complicated if USA Field Hockey, after leaving the National Training Center, shows a desire to keep hosting the National Futures Tournament and the Regional Rumble in Virginia Beach.

So, what might happen in the next few years? More on that tomorrow.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The faces have changed, but the results are the same for the U-19 division at the National Futures Tournament.

For the seventh straight year, a team representing Region 5, which includes most of Pennsylvania, took home the gold medal. The entry, Team Scranton, won the gold with a 5-0 win over San Diego, representing Region 11.

The final was a showcase for two high school teammates, Tara Puffenberger and Paige Selenski of Dallas (Pa.). The open, free flow of the tournament allowed the two the creativity to score some unbelievable goals.

The left-handed Puffenberger, as is her wont, attempted and scored a backhand goal on the right wing with her back to the goal cage. The seventh-minute goal opened the account for Scranton and head coach Sylvia Shunk.

“We’ve played with each other before,” said Puffenberger, who has committed to the University of Michigan. “We’re used to it, and we like each other.”

Nine minutes later, Selenski, as if made of lightning, sprinted up the field beating three defenders and, on the dead run, golfed the ball into the cage. She would add a second on a short corner late in the first half.

“We know where each other is going to be,” said the Virginia-bound Selenski. “We’re usually the ones who wind up being selected to tournaments like the Can-Ams.”

Scranton, featuring seven Penn Monto All-Americans (Puffenberger, Selenski, Kelsey Amy, Rhian Jones, Jen Sciulli, Rachel Jennings, and Tara Jennings), outscored its opponents 33-1 in the tournament in one of the most dominating performances ever seen at the NFT.

Scranton 3-2 — 5
San Diego 0-0 — 0
S: Tara Puffenberger (Taryn Gjurich), FG, 7th
S: Paige Selenski, FG, 16th
S: Selenski (Tara Jennings), PC, 21st
S: Gjurich, FG, 29th
S: Kelsey Amy, FG, 42nd
Shots — S: 11; SD: 0. Saves — S: Kaitlyn Ruhf 0, Bridgette Street 0; SD: Haleh Nourani 3, Molly Cassidy 3.

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Earlier in the day, at the Princess Anne complex, the U-19 Regional Rumble championship was contested under a smoky haze, and Chaos, a Region 5 entry from Pennsylvania (with a player from Massachusetts as a late add to the roster), won 3-1 over Bedlam, a combination team from Regions 2, 3, and 8.

Chaos, coached by St. Joseph’s University assistant Regina Inigo, was an interesting parallel to the Futures Tournament. While the players on Team Scranton came from successful and well-known programs, many of the Chaos players hailed from much lesser-known teams.

The team’s dangerous center forward, Phoebe Hopkins, had scored 26 goals last fall, but played at Philadelphia Friends Select (Pa.), a school so small that it plays its field hockey games on a roof overlooking the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Center City.

Bridgett Robinson, who had a goal in the game, plays at Clarks Summit Abington Heights (Pa.), a school which is completely crowded out of top honors in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre region by the likes of Mountain Top Crestwood (Pa.), Dallas (Pa.), Kingston Wyoming Seminary (Pa.), and Lehman Lake-Lehman (Pa.).

“I’m really excited,” Robinson said. “I’m glad to get that last goal; it feels good to contribute. After they scored that first goal it was only 2-1, and I was afraid they were going to put real pressure on us to tie it up.”

And goalkeeper Chloe Baro, who played on two teams in the Rumble, is used to having multiple repetitions during her field hockey games. On the final matchday, she willed one of her teams to a win in a penalty stroke shootout, then ambled over to the site of the final and made six saves to keep Bedlam at bay.

“We’re probably the worst team in the PAC-10,” Baro says of Pottstown Pottsgrove (Pa.). “I like getting the extra reps, so it works out.”

Chaos 1-2 — 3
Bedlam 0-1 — 1
C: Jena Hanebury (Laken Ferreira), FG, 4th
C: Ashley Taylor (Courtney Wolff, Leigh Deininger), PC, 30th
B: Annie Stephens, FG, 37th
C: Bridgette Robinson (Phoebe Hopkins), FG, 39th
Shots — C: 9; B: 7. Saves — C: Chloe Baro 6; B: Tiffany Frye 6

The Regional Rumble, in only its second year, has already made a difference. Watch below.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Perhaps the smallest player on the field made the biggest play of all in the finals of the U-16 National Futures Tournament.

Attacker Laura Gebhart, who is barely over five feet tall, pitchforked a penalty corner rebound in the goal with 10 minutes to go, leading West Chester to yet another Region 5 gold medal with a 1-0 win over a wonderfully resolute Dover team out of Region 7.

“I tried to see where the hole was, and tried to get it there,” Gebhart said. “I just happened to be in the right spot.”

The Gebhart goal climaxed an extended period of pressure on the part of West Chester, a team skippered by Temple head coach Amanda Janney. The Region 5 outfit bottled up Dover’s attack to the point where not even the outstanding speed and skills of Maxine Fluharty — the youngest player in last weekend’s USA Field Hockey Women’s National Championship tournament — could relieve the defensive pressure.

But as good as Fluharty was in creating space for herself and her teammates, including one breathtaking headman pass that almost led to a half-chance for Dover, West Chester had more than one player with that ability.

Left winger Ashley Youngman and right winger Hope Burke, both from Selinsgrove (Pa.), and fellow forwards Marie Elena Bolles and Lauren Purvis created a number of chances for West Chester, but the only goal that went in was the rebound off the team’s fifth corner of the game.

West Chester 0-1 — 1
Dover 0-0 — 0
WC: Laura Gebhart, PC, 40th
Shots — WC 8; D 3. Saves — WC: Elizabeth Millen 1, Kate Mitchell 2; D: Emily Cain 2; Emma Voelker 6

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Earlier in the day, at the Princess Anne complex, Richter defeated Shudder 3-0 to take the Regional Rumble championship in the U-16 division.

As was the case in the U-16 National Futures Tournament, a Pennsylvania team defeated a team from the Delmarva region. Unlike the Futures championship, however, the U-16 title game in the Regional Rumble was played seven a side, to allow the thinned-out rosters in the division a chance to substitute out every few minutes.

The extra space, plus the heat of mid-day, altered most strategies, but what it did not alter was excellence. The Region 5 Richter team, featuring players from national powers such as Emmaus (Pa.) and Kingston Wyoming Seminary (Pa.), defeated Shudder of Region 9, 3-0.

“Our goal was to score the first five minutes of each game,” said Richter head coach Megan McQuin. “And we did all that. We had a lot of players from great field hockey schools, some of which haven’t been playing all that long, but they all have that passion.”

Five Richter players are from defending PIAA Class AAA champion Emmaus. This includes midfielder Samantha Wootsick, who caused all sorts of matchup problems for Shudder with her stick skills and quickness. The same could be said for Hannah Loux of Lansdale Christopher Dock (Pa.), who not only had a nifty field goal in the first half, but set up Rebecca Gagliardi with a stiff cross in the second term.

Ashley Bernardi, who with her twin sister Lauren attend Wyoming Seminary, opened the scoring in the fifth minute.

“The thing I see with the Pennsylvania kids is the youth programs,” said McQuin, who played her youth hockey in the state of Delaware before coaching at the University of Pennsylvania, “That’s where it all starts.”

Richter 2-1 — 3
Shudder 0-0 — 0
R: Ashley Bernardi, FG, 5th
R: Hannah Loux, FG, 12th
R: Rebecca Gagliardi (Loux), FG, 28th
Shots — R: 10; S: 2. Saves — R: Hannah Nallo 0, Lauren Remaley 2; S: Vicci Alexander 2, Kandice Voigt 5.

The makeup of the U.S. women’s Olympic field hockey team was finalized over the weekend, and announced to a banquet for the participants at the National Futures Tournament and Regional Rumble.

Of the 16 players and two alternates chosen for the Olympics, there is only one change from the roster for the Kazan Qualifier earlier this year. The change is that Sara Silvetti is on the alternates’ list, replacing Melissa Leonetti.

Here are the team members:

Kate Barber, University of North Carolina and Unionville (Pa.)
Kayla Bashore, Indiana University and Hamburg (Pa.)
Lauren Crandall, Wake Forest University and Buckingham Central Bucks East (Pa.)
Rachel Dawson, University of North Carolina and Voorhees Eastern (N.J.)
Kelly Doton, Wake Forest University and Greenfield (Mass.)
Katelyn Falgowski, University of North Carolina and Wilmington St. Mark’s (Del.)
Jesse Gey, University of North Carolina and Lansdale Christopher Dock (Pa.)
Carrie Lingo, University of North Carolina and Lewes Cape Henlopen (Del.)
Angie Loy, Old Dominion University and West Perry (Pa.)
Caroline Nichols, Old Dominion University and Salem (Va.)
Lauren Powley, University of Maryland and Kingston Wyoming Seminary (Pa.)
Dina Rizzo, University of Maryland and Walpole (Mass.)
Dana Sensenig, Old Dominion University and Denver Cocalico (Pa.)
Sara Silvetti, University of Maryland and Mountain Top Crestwood (Pa.)
Keli Smith, University of Maryland and Selinsgrove (Pa.)
Tiffany Snow, Old Dominion University and Escondido San Pasqual (Calif.)
Amy Tran, University of North Carolina and Northern Lebanon (Pa.)
Barbara Weinberg, University of Iowa and Louisville Male (Ky.)

As per current international convention, Bodimeade is designating Weinberg as an alternate and is carrying only one goalkeeper on the main roster.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Part of the mystique of the National Futures Tournament is that field hockey rivals for the year are teammates for a week.

Take, for instance, the USA East team from the U-14 bracket. Head coach Lori Hillman is head coach of Gibbsboro (N.J.) Elementary/Middle School, and, as it turns out, got the winning goal in the gold-medal match from a player on the team she prepares to defeat twice a year, Berlin (N.J.) Community School.

Meredith Kalberer was the beneficiary of some neat give-and-go passing in the opening seconds of the second half as USA East defeated USA Red 1-0. Kalberer’s shot from the left wing wrongfooted the USA Red defense and found the backboard.

“We were all working the ball up the sides and talking to each other,” Kalberer said. “And we looked up before we passed.”

“The passing was awesome, and we did that the whole tournament,” Hillman said. “The U-14s are like little sponges, with their knowledge of field hockey.”

USA Red did its best to tie in the final two minutes of play, throwing passes into open areas, but USA East defended extremely well, not allowing a good shot on goal despite yielding a few free hits in dangerous positions.

“I think a large part of my coaching in this tournament was Carla (Martin), because she was my coach at Gibbsboro,” Hillman said. “And you have to make your coaching relate to the younger girls.”

USA East 0-1 — 1
USA Red 0-0 — 0
USAE: Meredith Kalberer, FG, 26th
Shots — USAE 5; USAR 2. Saves — USAE: Alexandra Pecora 2, Alana Barry 0; USAR: Danielle Despirito 3, Margaret Mitchell

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Across Landstown Road, Push-It managed a win in the finals of the U-14 Regional Rumble despite a second-half monsoon, a lightning delay, and its inability to finish its chances against a resolute Bring-It team.

But after a goalless draw was declared after a lightning delay, a sudden-victory penalty stroke shootout was contested for the gold medal. In the shootout, Push-It was able to get a goal from Caroline Chromik, while teammate Regan Spencer made a save on Bring-It’s stroke attempt. It was Spencer’s lone save of the game.

“There wasn’t much action, but it was fun playing,” said Spencer, who plays her school ball in Midlothian, Va.

“She was wonderful,” said Push-It head coach Jessie Dawson. “We all had confidence in her. She gave up only one goal the entire tournament.”

In the six-team race for this year’s Regional Rumble title, there was crossover play added this year; last year’s medalists were determined on pool rankings which got somewhat convoluted because of the parity of competition amongst these pay-to-play teams.

Of course, adding classification rounds means playing every game to a decision. This also means working around the afternoon thunderstorms which are a part of summer life in the Hampton Roads region. The decision was made to shorten the penalty stroke shootout from three rounds to one, which focused Chromik even more on her task.

“I’m usually the first stroker,” said the middle-schooler from Yorktown, Va. “I’m pretty confident with it.”

Push-It and Bring-It also had to overcome the schedule. There was just one hour between the semifinal match and the final, meaning that conditioning would come into play.

“I thought they’d be tired,” Dawson said, “but they came out like they did the first game. It didn’t affect them at all.”

Indeed, Push-It created several sharp-edged chances, including a penalty corner in the 20th minute that saw the ball nearly cross the goal line, but was cleared in time by the Bring-It corner defense unit.

Push-It 0-0–1 — 1
Bring-It 0-0–0 — 0
(Push-It wins 1-0 in penalty strokes)
Stroke goals — P: Caroline Chromik
Shots — P: 6; B: 1. Saves — P: Regan Spencer 1; B: Jessica Wilson 5

A year ago, the field hockey team representing the New England High Performance Training Center finished at the bottom of the table for the USA Field Hockey National Championship.

Today, New England concluded an improbable run to the championship with a 3-0 win over top-seed Midwest in the gold-medal match.

Midwest had defeated New England 1-0 in pool play, but the Redcoats, bolstered by Team USA goalie Amy Tran, back Carrie Lingo, forward Tiffany Snow, and penalty corner specialist Kelly Doton, were more than ready to win the championship game, especially after an impressive 3-0 win over New Jersey in the final round of pool play.

Doton’s corner blast in the 44th minute was followed up by a Lingo corner goal 12 minutes later, which essentially sealed the match. Nelli Poulin’s goal four minutes from time ended matters.