TopOfTheCircle.com
Serving the scholastic field hockey and lacrosse community since 1998Archive for January 3, 2013
Jan. 3, 2013 — An appreciation: Amy (Tran) Swensen, goalkeeper, United States
One in an occasional series.
In 2011, Amy Swensen, the fine goalkeeper for the U.S. women’s field hockey team, suffered a knee injury that sidelined her for the Pan American Games.
She could have opted for the same kind of ligament surgery that she and thousands of other athletes get every year, then rehabilitate in time to compete for an Olympic roster spot.
But Swensen took the road less traveled. It was decided that she would get an artificial knee.
It was a calculated risk. In Swensen’s absence, the United States won the Pan American Games and the automatic qualifying spot that went with it.
Swensen had the surgery, then competed in the 2012 Women’s National Championship tournament at the University of Maryland. Days later, she was selected to her second U.S. Olympic Team.
Today, the best goalkeeper in U.S. women’s national field hockey history announced her retirement from the sport. It was a career during which she earned a reputation for being one of the best in her craft on the planet. In the mid-2000s, she was named to an FIH World All-Star Team and was named Goalkeeper of the Tournament for the 2005 FIH Champions Challenge and the 2006 FIH World Cup.
There were games in which Swensen more than made up for the lack of offensive support with saves this space has compared with Soviet men’s soccer goalkeeper Lev Yashin. Her positioning, anticipation, and tenacity were on display for 162 internationals.
At the same time, Swensen could also show a maddening inconsistency. In the 2008 Olympics, in the final classification game against Spain, the U.S. gave up a late goal in regulation and one in extra time in what was a very winnable contest. In the 2012 Olympics, she gave up seven goals to South Africa.
But the body of work that Swensen has done the last decade in the U.S. cage needs to be seen in context. With her in the cage, the U.S. had a chance to win every time out. That’s saying something, given the underachieving nature of the American side for the first 40 years of its existence.
And perhaps it’ll be Swensen’s greatest legacy.
TopOfTheCircle.com 