Seniors Head to 2017 Young Women’s National Championship
6/8/2017 3:10:00 PM | Field Hockey
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Last week, Team USA extended official invitations to some of the best field hockey players in the nation to attend the 2017 Young Women's National Championship. Two Indiana seniors—defender Elle Hempt and goalkeeper Katie Johnson—will represent the Hoosiers in competition at the annual summer competition.
The Young Women's National Championship is set to run from Monday, June 12 through Friday, June 16 at Spooky Nook Sports in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It's a high-level, international structured competition which is a selection avenue to Junior National Camps and the Development Squad Camp.
Every summer, the invitations are sent to players who will eventually divide into eight teams and play an international-style tournament, splitting into pools of four teams apiece. By attending, players enter a selection opportunity for the 2017-18 rosters of the U.S. U-21 Women's National team, the U.S. Women's National Development Squad, and the U.S. Women's National Team.
Hempt and Johnson landed on the USA Gold team in the final draw, but they won't be the only Hoosiers in attendance at Spooky Nook. Indiana head coach Amanda Janney will return to the tournament as a coach for the USA Patriots squad.
Last year Hempt accepted the captain's badge and started every game of her first season on the turf with Indiana. She anchored the defense at center back, a unit that combined with goalkeeper Noëlle Rother for the Big Ten's best team save percentage (.767, 7th – NCAA) and saves per game (7.11, 18th – NCAA). She also entered the Hoosiers' hitting rotation on attack penalty corners, notching the first goal of her career in the 2016 Big Ten Tournament.
This year marks Hempt's second selection to the Young Women's National Championship. Janney and Hempt both made the trek to Lancaster last summer, where Hempt suited up for the USA White team.
Johnson is on the cusp of her fifth and final season between the pipes at the IU Field Hockey Complex. She made five appearances and logged over 200 minutes last season, sharing a shutout victory against Missouri State (9/9). She earned a pair of starts on the road versus two NCAA Championship qualifiers, Penn State (10/28) and Syracuse (10/30), the first starts of her career. Johnson set a career high with 11 saves against Syracuse, and made eight saves to nearly deliver a comeback at Penn State.
Hempt and Johnson are two of 25 selections from the Big Ten conference with invitations to this year's tournament. The list of selections from the conference can be found below.
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2017 Young Women's National Championship Selections: Big Ten
Indiana
Elle Hempt
Katie Johnson
Iowa
Makenna Grewe
Katie Jones
Mallory Lefkowitz
Taylor Omweg
Melissa Progar
Maryland
Brooke Adler
Mayv Clune
Noelle Frost
Michigan
Bree Bednarski
Michigan State
Hannah Ackers
Madison O'Neill
Samantha Siegel
Northwestern
Elena Curley
Katie Esselman
Lily Katzman
Charlotte Vaziri
Kaitlin Wood
Ohio State
Maddy Humphrey
Penn State
Delani Higgins
Alexis Horst
Lauren McNally
Jenny Rizzo
Mary Nell Smith
The Young Women's National Championship is set to run from Monday, June 12 through Friday, June 16 at Spooky Nook Sports in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It's a high-level, international structured competition which is a selection avenue to Junior National Camps and the Development Squad Camp.
Every summer, the invitations are sent to players who will eventually divide into eight teams and play an international-style tournament, splitting into pools of four teams apiece. By attending, players enter a selection opportunity for the 2017-18 rosters of the U.S. U-21 Women's National team, the U.S. Women's National Development Squad, and the U.S. Women's National Team.
Hempt and Johnson landed on the USA Gold team in the final draw, but they won't be the only Hoosiers in attendance at Spooky Nook. Indiana head coach Amanda Janney will return to the tournament as a coach for the USA Patriots squad.
Last year Hempt accepted the captain's badge and started every game of her first season on the turf with Indiana. She anchored the defense at center back, a unit that combined with goalkeeper Noëlle Rother for the Big Ten's best team save percentage (.767, 7th – NCAA) and saves per game (7.11, 18th – NCAA). She also entered the Hoosiers' hitting rotation on attack penalty corners, notching the first goal of her career in the 2016 Big Ten Tournament.
This year marks Hempt's second selection to the Young Women's National Championship. Janney and Hempt both made the trek to Lancaster last summer, where Hempt suited up for the USA White team.
Johnson is on the cusp of her fifth and final season between the pipes at the IU Field Hockey Complex. She made five appearances and logged over 200 minutes last season, sharing a shutout victory against Missouri State (9/9). She earned a pair of starts on the road versus two NCAA Championship qualifiers, Penn State (10/28) and Syracuse (10/30), the first starts of her career. Johnson set a career high with 11 saves against Syracuse, and made eight saves to nearly deliver a comeback at Penn State.
Hempt and Johnson are two of 25 selections from the Big Ten conference with invitations to this year's tournament. The list of selections from the conference can be found below.
Follow Indiana Field Hockey on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter.
2017 Young Women's National Championship Selections: Big Ten
Indiana
Elle Hempt
Katie Johnson
Iowa
Makenna Grewe
Katie Jones
Mallory Lefkowitz
Taylor Omweg
Melissa Progar
Maryland
Brooke Adler
Mayv Clune
Noelle Frost
Michigan
Bree Bednarski
Michigan State
Hannah Ackers
Madison O'Neill
Samantha Siegel
Northwestern
Elena Curley
Katie Esselman
Lily Katzman
Charlotte Vaziri
Kaitlin Wood
Ohio State
Maddy Humphrey
Penn State
Delani Higgins
Alexis Horst
Lauren McNally
Jenny Rizzo
Mary Nell Smith
Players Mentioned
Defender
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Goalkeeper
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Goalkeeper
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