COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Two incoming University of Iowa field hockey student-athletes – Lauren DeRose and Gia Whalen – have been named to the 2023 U.S. U-18 Women’s National Team, it was announced by U.S.A. Field Hockey.
The duo earned the nod after competing in a three-day training camp last week in Davidson, North Carolina. The original camp was held Dec. 27-30 in Houston, Texas, where the list of athletes was narrowed to be invited to North Carolina.
Lauren & Gia will represent the 🔴⚪🔵 as part of the U-18 Women’s National Team! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Congrats! #Hawkeyes
➡ https://t.co/rRscBbcplL pic.twitter.com/Q4PB0Cp6S6
— Iowa Field Hockey (@iowafieldhockey) February 9, 2023
“First of all, congratulations to the athletes selected for the U-18 squad this year,” said Ralph Boersma, U-18 USWNT head coach. “The training camp provided a highly competitive environment that challenged each individual. We continued to build on our core team principles within ‘The USA Way’ and are looking forward to take the next steps in this process at the March camp. The goal is to prepare the group for international competition later on without losing sight of each individual’s growth.”
Both the U-16 and U-18 USWNT will have their next training camp at Queens University of Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina, from March 10-12 to select the traveling squads for their respective international tours.
The U-18 team will travel to Belgium for matches against some of the country’s best men’s and women’s teams.
DeRose and Whalen are the third and fourth Hawkeyes selected to represent the Red, White and Blue this year. Redshirt freshman Mia Magnotta was selected to the U.S. U-21 Women’s National Team and sophomore Annika Herbine was chosen to represent the U.S. at the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup.
