Despite its 2-1 loss to Great Britain on Saturday at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the U.S. women’s field hockey team, comprised mostly of players who hail from the Greater Philadelphia area, is still in good shape.

The United States, which finished second in Group B, will continue its quest for its first medal in the sport since 1984 when it plays Germany this morning in the quarterfinals.

The Americans enter the knockout stage, having outscored opponents 14-5 in its five pool-play matches.

A landmark moment in the emergence of the women’s field hockey team occurred in 2013, when the national program moved its headquarters from Chula Vista, Calif., to Lancaster in 2013. The decision enabled most of the players to train together at Spooky Nook Sports, which touts itself as the largest indoor sports complex in North America, and build camaraderie while being close to family and friends.

The Keystone State has clearly shown it has the infrastructure to help young players develop.

Blue Bell native and Wissahickon High School graduate Katie O’Donnell Bam, whose five goals in Rio lead the Americans in scoring, first picked up a stick when she was three years old. (Her older twin sisters played the sport at Drexel.) O’Donnell Bam, now 27, led Maryland to a pair of NCAA championships.

The Pennsylvanians grew up in the sport’s culture, which has enhanced their chemistry as a group.

“I think the competition when you’re growing up breeds it,” said Katelyn Falgowski, a 27-year-old native of Landenberg in southern Chester County who attended St. Mark’s High School in Wilmington, Del., and the University of North Carolina.

“I think always playing at a high level against good competition – a lot of us grew up playing against each other. I think 10, 20 years of doing that together really raises the bar, and the competitive spirit within us really wants to challenge each other and play as best we can.”

“We take a lot of pride (in it),” Penn State field hockey coach Charlene Morett, an Aldan native who attended Lansdowne-Aldan High School, now Penn Wood, told PhillyVoice.

Morett won a bronze medal as a member of the U.S. field hockey team in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

“There’s that toughness, a little bit of attitude, you know what I mean?” Morett said. “And in a good way. That’s a good thing.”

A win this morning against Germany puts the Americans in position to win their first medal in 32 years.

Stay tuned.
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Top photo credit: Rabo Trophy field hockey 2010 via photopin (license)