University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Named To Junior National Teams
July 25, 2012 | Field Hockey
Five North Carolina field hockey players have been named to 2012-13 U.S. Junior National squads, announced recently by USA Field Hockey. The selections were made following Junior National Camp earlier this month in Amherst, Mass.
Emma Bozek, Kelsey Kolojejchick, Marta Malmberg and Emily Wold were named to the Under 21 team and Casey DiNardo was named to the Under 19 team.
Kolojejchick, from Larksville, Pa., will be a senior for the Tar Heels this fall and Malmberg, from Marathon, N.Y., a junior. Bozek (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.), DiNardo (Virginia Beach, Va.) and Wold (Freehold, N.J.) are incoming freshmen.
The four who are on the Under-21 team will compete in a training camp in August that will facilitate selection of the Junior Pan American Games team, which will represent the U.S. in Mexico this September. Bozek, Kolojejchick, Malmberg and Wold will head to Maryland for the U.S. camp Aug. 16-20 and miss the end of UNC's preseason, but will leave camp early to return to Chapel Hill for the first day of classes.
“To have four Tar Heels on the Under-21 national team is impressive,” UNC coach Karen Shelton said. “There's still a selection to go for the Junior Pan Ams but I couldn't be prouder of them. Kelsey Kolojejchick has made outstanding development with the national team, Marta Malmberg has been playing all summer with high performance and then at junior national camp, and Emily Wold and Emma Bozek both had outstanding summers, also playing at high performance. Both distinguished themselves very, very well. Emily was invited out to train for a month with the national team in California, and Emma was one of the stronger players at junior national camp.”
As a member of the Under 19 team, DiNardo will participate in a training camp in January in California, playing for selection to a travel squad that will tour internationally next spring. “Casey played in the Futures Elite tournament, and even though she was playing out of position, she did very well and obviously distinguished herself,” Shelton said. “She's a striker, but she was playing back. It wasn't her natural position, but she showed versatility and maturity by being able to play another position when needed.”
The Tar Heels open preseason practice on Aug. 9 and kick off the 2012 season on Aug. 25, taking on Michigan at the ACC-Big Ten Challenge in Winston-Salem, N.C.
