Three players on Team USA have celebrated landmark caps in Valencia. PAHF talks to the players during the Hockey World League Semi-Finals in Valencia.
For Lauren Crandall, Katelyn Falgowski and Melissa Gonzalez, their second pool match against South Africa in the Hockey World League Semi-Finals in Valencia was a special moment. With a combined cap total of 600, Lauren Crandall, Kate Falgowski and Melissa Gonzalez are celebrating 250, 200 and 150 caps respectively. We caught up with the three players on the eve of the match.
"I barely remember my first cap," says Melissa. "It passed in such a whirl. I was just really conscious of the talented players who were all around me and not wanting to let any of them down. It is still one of the stand-out moments in my career, but it was over so quickly." Fittingly, Melissa's first cap was in Valencia as well, but on that occasion the USA were on the losing side.
Signifying just how far this team has come, Lauren Crandall makes some surprising admissions when she recalls her first few games for the national team. Captain Crandall is known for her straight-talking and confidence captain and people may be surprised to learn that for the first few matches of her international career she saw herself as "definitely the worst player on the team. I got my butt kicked every time I played, but I loved it. It made me realise just how much I had to learn and the potential I had to get better." Lauren says that Natascha Keller of Germany remains one of the players she views as the best of all time. "She just had this ability to make me look really stupid sometimes."
Certainly those close to the defender will also know her not so secret ambition – one she has harboured throughout her playing career: "I want to play in midfield. I've told Craig (Parnham) and everyone knows," At this point she rolls her eyes in mock despair, "but I know it’s best for the team if I stay in defence."
Kate Falgowski, who missed eight months of action after taking a blow to the head in 2010, says that she is astonished at where the past 10 years have gone. She made her debut in 2005, the same year as Lauren. "If I could say one thing to my younger self, it would be to enjoy the moment. I think it is important as a young player that you know it will be okay. You can get so caught up in worrying that you forget to enjoy things."
She reflected on those 10 years: "We always used to be the team who worked hard and bounced back from a defeat. I think now we have far more technical ability and awareness: we are not just a 'hard-working team', although that is still the prefix people tend to use when they talk about us."
Melissa agrees. She won her first international cap in 2010 and says of the experience: "I don't think I knew what I was getting into, and I lacked confidence in the first few matches. Now I have the experience to recognise situations and deal with them. But I still like to keep a fresh outlook on things. Five years on, that is important."
The players have clear, and emotional, memories of their best and worst moments on the pitch. "For me, one of the best moments was being selected for London 2012," says Melissa. "When I was selected, I just hugged everyone and then went and sat outside on the stairs crying. My family were waiting. They could see me, but I didn't give them the 'thumbs up' so they didn't know if I was crying with joy or despair. When I was told I was in the squad, I didn't wait to hear any more, I just hugged anyone in reach."
Melissa's London joy soon turned to despair however, and both she and Kate cite the 2012 Games as one of their worst moments. "We lost to South Africa, we lost to New Zealand, we just kept going into these matches with high hopes and then being dashed to the ground," says Kate, wincing a little at the memory.
"Yeah," agrees Melissa, "That is how I remember it. We lost a match and then truly believed we would win the next one. We lost again, and up we got and thought we would win the next one. We might not have played well, but you certainly can't say we don't have resilience. I think it is the bouncebackability factor."
Lauren's personal worst moment was a little earlier in her career. "It was 2010 and we had been preparing for the World Cup qualifier against Korea. Every run I did, every treadmill session, I was focused on beating Korea. I don't think I have ever trained with that sort of focus on one team before."
What happened next still causes Lauren nightmares. "I got a yellow card in the last few minutes of the match and I was off the pitch when Korea scored their third goal to make it 3-1. I cried and cried."
All three players remember their 2011 Pan-American Games win over Argentina as one of the best moments of their hockey careers. "We had worked for it for so long," says Kate. "When we won, I was just so overwhelmed, I get goosebumps even now thinking about it."
"When those Argentinian drums stopped beating we knew we had done it," added Lauren.
The three players talk a lot about the culture that surrounds this USA side. "I think following London, there was a lot of transition to be made," says Lauren. "We had always been known as a hard-working side, but we needed to move that up a level and become a technically proficient and tactically aware team as well. The culture we have now is driven by the players. After London a lot of players took some time out, and those that came back knew they had to buy into the new culture. It took all of us some time to decide we wanted to keep making sacrifices."
"I agree with the phrase sacrifice," says Kate. "But there is something contagious about it. If you see your teammate working really hard, then you can't sit back and cruise along. Its only light-hearted, but every run, every sprint, you try to just get ahead of the person next to you."
"I think that playing for your country, you make sacrifices. We all put careers and family on hold, we are not paid professionals. We invest a lot into playing so there is no point not buying fully into the culture, to get where we want to be, it has to be full commitment." says Lauren.
"I know that every time the national anthem plays, I well up and get emotional," says Melissa. "These two," she says indicating her two multi-capped colleagues, "usually have a few tears."
And almost as if it were a Hollywood script, both Kate and Lauren found the back of the net in their 4-1 victory over South Africa – a result that sends the USA into the quarter-finals and one step closer to Olympic qualification.
