THE USFHA SUMMER LEAGUE: A MODEST BEGINNING

By Al Mattei

Founder, TopOfTheCircle.com

A hot, golden sun arose over a shimmering green carpet at the site of one of the most storied field hockey programs in America. A smattering of people, some of whom brought sunblock, sat with their backs to the sun, trying to find that one comfortable area of shade in the stands.

What the people were watching one steamy June weekend in 1998 was an exercise in barnstorming. There was field hockey to be played, and there were six teams, each with different-colored jerseys and socks, who had just enough guts to try it.

It is hard to know whether the low-key nature of the inaugural season of the United States Field Hockey Association's Summer League came from a lack of marketing knowledge or a lack of organization. However, the on-the-edge feeling borne from the barnstorming aspect of the league was palpable throughout during its second weekend of play last June at The College of New Jersey.

Now, throughout the "herstory" of women's sports, barnstorming has played a huge part in the spread of sport throughout the United States.Whether it was those numerous basketball teams in the 40s and 50s or the Storm and Blaze intramural teams of Women's Professional Fastpitch, the act of traveling and playing in an act borne of marketing as well as athleticism has been part and parcel of sport.

Such was the case with the Summer League, the six-team, three-weekend happening which played its round-robin games at Southern Connecticut State University and The College of New Jersey before sending its best four teams to the University of Maryland over the Fourth of July weekend.

The League came to its second site, Lions' Stadium, with little of the WNBA's marketing bombast. A paragraph or two was seen in a local paper with no mention that nearly one in seven participants played their high school or collegiate hockey within 30 miles of The Institution.

There could have been a large group of hockey fans at the site, but the weekend coincided with a massive all-female recreational soccer tournament with three playing locations -- one less than 500 yards from where the USFHA Summer League played its second weekend.

"Next year, there will be more people coming out," said Team USA's Christine DeBow, who played for the Philadelphia-area White Team. "It's also good having the finals at the National Futures Tournament (at the University of Maryland), since that draws people that are already here."

The women's sports fans not drawn to the soccer tournament were actually treated to some excellent hockey. Nationally known names like Tracey Fuchs and Kelli James participated as well as names of the future. One of these is the University of Virginia's Meredith Elwell, who has been on age-group national teams but never on the senior women's national team.

Like many of those in the league, she one of the finest games in her life on the Lions' Stadium turf while playing for Moorestown High School. Now, playing for the Blue Team representing New Jersey, she is taking advantage of the extra playing time for an extended preseason as well as to get to mesh with some of the best players in the country.

"This gives us an opportunity to work with a group of girls you don't have a lot of time to work with," said the forward, who had a virtuoso hat trick in her senior year in the state final. "I like this league because at 'A'-camp, it's not as team-oriented."

"At 'A'-camp, you wind up doing drills for half the day and scrimmage the other half," said Lori Mastropietro, Elwell's teammate at Virginia. "You can't get this kind of experience anywhere else."

One of the stated goals of the Summer League is to provide a secondary forum -- one outside of the Futures program -- for elite field hockey players to make any of the various national teams to be fielded for the next year.

"You have the older players coming back playing with some of the younger ones," said Mastropietro, a member of the 1998 U.S. World Cup team and captain of the Yellow team representing Virginia. "We hope to grow interest in the sport and make a longer season; all we have is the NCAA and nothing beyond that."

However, an unstated goal for the league was to provide a competitive environment beyond college and, quite possibly, plant the seeds for an American professional field hockey league. To this end, it will remain to be seen if the series of Test matches among the six teams played last summer will lead towards this goal.

"I think it will, if it keeps going," said Team USA's Cindy Werley, the North Carolina graduate who played for the North Carolina-area Green Team. "Field hockey is big in the Northeast, but it is branching out more. (The league) would improve the quality of field hockey, too."

For others, there are other goals. Take the Red Team, which is composed mainly of players from New England. The team swept both its weekend games thanks to its ability to not only finish, but not to be intimidated by the high-powered ACC players on some of the other teams.

"This teams plays very well together," said Red Team coach Cheryl Murtaugh of Northeastern University. "They don't rely on just one or two people. We also have gotten very good goalkeeping."

One of the players for New England who showed very well offensively was Boston University's Danielle DeCoste. She scored in both games at The College of New Jersey and gave opposing defenses little chance when she barrelled into the circle.

"It was very important for us to sweep this weekend," she said. "Things have been progressing very well for us."

Though there was no central location for information as to what had to happen for one team or another to make it to the championship weekend at Maryland, the knowledgable fans were able to figure out which teams were better than the others.

The level of play seen at The College of New Jersey was of high quality -- as high or higher than seen at an NCAA Final Four. Watching the veteran 1998 U.S World Cup team captain Tracey Fuchs working with U-16 national team member Katie Nicholson for the New Jersey team was an amazing contrast.

"All of the teams have great players, and the challenge is to have them learn to work and play together," DeBow said. "Our team on paper isn't one of the strongest, but the way we work together, there's great energy, and that's the reason why we're successful."