Field hockey players selected for national tourney

Twelve Fallbrook High School field hockey players participated in the regional Futures tournament May 20-21 at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, and three of those players were invited to participate in the national tournament in July while a fourth was named as an alternate for the national tournament.

Lauren Woods, Brianna Cummins, and Alex Zeringue were selected for the under-19 national tournament. Devon Holman was named as an alternate for the under-16 tournament. The national tournament will be held at the Olympic Training Center in Virginia.

Zeringue participated in the under-16 national tournament in 2004 and the under-19 national tournament in 2005. Woods and Cummins were also part of the 2005 under-19 national tournament.

Zeringue and Cummins were seniors on the 2005 Fallbrook High School Field Hockey team. Both will play college field hockey in 2006; Zeringue will be at the University of Michigan while Cummins will play at the University of the Pacific. Woods was a junior on the 2005 high school team.

Holman, a sophomore, was on the varsity field hockey team in 2005. “She really blossomed last year, so I was very pleased,” Fallbrook field hockey coach Kathy Waite said of Holman.

Each regional team in the national tournament will have 16 players with two alternates.

The Futures tournament included about 100 under-19 players and about 100 under-16 players from throughout California. In addition to Zeringue, Cummins, and Woods, Fallbrook High School was represented at the under-19 portion of the regional tournament by Elizabeth Green, Kandace Kooyman, Rachel Maxwell, and Savannah Saunders. The Fallbrook under-16 participants were Holman, Emily Badillo, Lizzy Eskue, Meghan Howell, and Roslyn Reynoso.

The Futures tournament focuses on skill development. “The girls played strong,” Waite said. “I was excited about it.”