Moorpark Junior Claim National Title as USA Field Hockey Names Junior Mens National Squad, Developmental Squad Following Junior National Championships
By Howard Thomas // U.S. Field Hockey Association // July 3, 2007
CHULA VISTA, Calif.– USA Field Hockey and men’s national team coach Nick Conway announced selections to the 2007-08 Men’s Junior National Squad and Men’s Developmental Squad following the conclusion of the Steve Haley USA Field Hockey Junior National Championships at the U.S. Olympic Training Center.
In the men’s junior championship game, Moorpark Juniors avenged a 2006 loss in the final with a 7-1 win over East Coast Juniors in the championship game. Will Holt (Camarillo, Calif.) and Viren Padhiar (Fountain Valley, Calif.) scored three goals each to help lift Moorpark to the title.
In the bronze medal game, Phoenix/Orange County defeated San Francisco Bay Area Juniors 3-0 on a pair of goals by Manraj Khosla (Mesa, Ariz.) and a score by Jason Kahlon (Yorba Linda, Calif.).
The tournament features four junior-level teams representing USA Field Hockey's High Performance Training Centers in Moorpark (Calif.), San Francisco Bay Area, East Coast and a combined Orange County (Calif.)/ Phoenix, Ariz. regional team.
Padhiar captured individual honors as the Player of the Tournament as well as taking home hardware as the event’s leading goal scorer (8 goals). Goalkeeper of the Tournament honors went to Andrew Zyac (Columbia, Md.) of the San Francisco High Performance Center while Mike Barminski (Ventura, Calif.) was named the Young Player of the Tournament. Padhiar and Zyac were named to the Junior National Squad while Barminski earned a spot of the Developmental Squad.
Based on the players’ performances at the tournament or the earlier senior Men’s National Championship in May, Conway and USA Field Hockey selectors named 24 players to the Junior National Squad in addition to 18 under-16 players to the Developmental Squad.
Twenty of the 24 players selected to Junior National Squad were repeat selections from 2006-07 including Amrit Ahluwalia (Irvine, Calif.), Kevin Barber (Camarillo, Calif.), Sonu Chana (Phoenix, Ariz.), Jed Cunningham (Moorpark, Calif.), Sean Fleming (Westlake Village, Calif.), Jonathon Ginolfi (Moorpark, Calif.), Alex Grassi (Brookville, Md.), Will Holt (Camarillo, Calif.), Jason Kahlon (Yorba Linda, Calif), Asavir Kalla (Cupertino, Calif.), Evan Lucanish (Thousand Oaks, Calif.), Manny Martinez (Lakeside, Calif.), Viren Padhir (Fountain Valley, Calif.), Jignesh Padhiar (Huntington, Calif.), Tyson Reeves (Ventura, Calif.), Colin Scally (Thousand Oaks, Calif.), Ryan Sundeen (Simi Valley, Calif.), Nicholas Szoke (Chesapeake, Va.), Andrew Zayac (Columbia, Md.) and Alex Zempolich (Cleveland, Ohio),
First-time selections to the team include Ross Gorham (Gardiner, Maine), Sebastian Scheurer (New York, N.Y.) and Corbin Seghers (Darhall, South Africa), Rajbar Sidhu (Danville, Calif.).
Cunningham, Ginolfi and Zayac were also selected to the USA senior Men’s National Team with Cunningham and Ginolfi selected to represent the USA at the Pan American Games, July 15-25 in Rio de Janeiro.
The newly selected 2007-08 Junior National Squad will host a team from British Columbia for a series, Aug. 2-5 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center while age-eligible players will begin their preparations for the 2009 Pan American Junior Championships and Junior World Cup.
Conway also selected a Developmental Squad of under-16 athletes including Mike Barminski (Ventura, Calif.), Ajai Dhadwal (Agoura, Calif.), Alex Grassi (Brookville, Md.), Sunny Grewall (Laguna Nigel, Calif.), Dylan Gutierrez (Ventura, Calif.), Jivraj Hundal (Chandler, Ariz.), Ranveer Kundi (Chino, Calif.), Christian Linney (Essex, UK), Julius Mouser (Havertown, Pa.), Johnny Orozco (Oceanside, Calif.), Viren Padhiar (Fountain Valley, Calif.), Jignesh Padhiar (Huntington, Calif.), Ja Ja Quing Li (Spring City, Pa.), Adam Schlosser (Moorpark, Calif.), Paul Singh (Simi Valley, Calif.), Tyler Sundeen (Simi Valley, Calif.), Alex Zempolich (Cleveland, Ohio)
And Patrick Zempolich (Cleveland, Ohio).
The selections followed the annual Junior Men’s National Championship named in honor of former men’s Field Hockey Association of America administrator Stephen Haley. Haley died of melanoma in February. USA Field Hockey has also established its Sun Safe Play program to help promote sun safety and educate young athletes on the protection and detection of melanoma and skin cancer in honor of Haley and former women’s junior team player, Maria Whitehead. Whitehead died of cancer in November 2006 at the age of 25.
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