Archbishop hammers Catholics..

Archbishop Carroll's Alyssa Lemons (left) pushes the ball past Lansdale Catholic 's Kathleen DiFerdiando. Photo by Gene Walsh / Times Herald Staff

RADNOR — Even though Lansdale Catholic field hockey coach Concetta Valerio is in her first season as head coach of the Crusaders, she knew full well what to expect when taking her team to play a game against Archbishop Carroll on the Patriots’ field.
    “They’re always good,” said Valerio. “They always have girls with really good stick skills.”
    The Crusaders were treated to an up-close and personal look at the Pats’ skills Wednesday afternoon in a game at Carroll’s grass field in Radnor. Archbishop Carroll scored in the opening minute, had six goals in the book by halftime and went on to post an 8-0 Philadelphia Catholic League win.

Colin Batch for NZ now..

IN CHARGE: New Black Sticks men's coach, Australian Colin Batch
   
 The men's Black Sticks have appointed Colin Batch as their new coach.
    Hockey New Zealand announced this morning the former Australian player, "highly respected and recognised as a world-class coach", has taken the reins after Shane McLeod quit following a poor Olympic campaign.
  Batch has been head coach of the Belgium men's team for the last two years and assistant to the Australian men's team for eight years, which included two successful Olympic campaigns.
  Hockey NZ chief executive Hilary Poole said she is delighted with the appointment.

Adios bitches, gets coach fired..

By Philip Hersh

An Olympic assistant coach who wrote an offensive sign-off in an email letter to members of the U.S. women’s Under-21 field hockey team was fired Monday by USA Field Hockey.
    But Nick Conway, 38, was allowed to be head coach of that team in the Pan American Junior Championship that ended Saturday.
   In response to complaints about the “Adios bitches” sign-off that Conway used in a Sept. 6 email, USA Field Hockey executive director Steven Locke said in a Sept. 13 email to those who complained that both legal time constraints and expressions of support from team members led the federation to keep Conway in the position for the Pan Am tournament.
   The Tribune has obtained copies of the Sept. 6 and Sept. 13 correspondence as well as an email apology from Conway, who was named women’s national team assistant coach in December, 2011 and filled that role at the London Olympics.  Prior to that, he had been the men’s national team head coach for six years.
   The women’s Under-21 team won the bronze medal at the Junior Pan American tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico.
  Chicago Tribune

Nick Conway's full apology

Hi Everyone,

Please accept my most sincere and absolute apologies for the sign off in my email from earlier today regarding the addition of Rachel Dawson to the u21 management team.

My intent with this sign off was to reference some moments of hilarity within our group from our training camp together in Maryland, August 16-22.  It was an attempt to have you giggle to yourself, to provide a mild piece of levity and most importantly to connect our group ahead of our approaching tournament.  It was a reference to the gift that you most graciously gave to me on the final morning following the conclusion of the training camp.

It is clear that this commentary without context is inappropriate and causes offense.  If this commentary caused you any offense whatsoever I sincerely and unreservedly apologize.  Please understand that that was never my intention.  My singular goal is to assist our u21 team with qualification to the Junior World Cup and I would never deliberately jeopardize this objective.

Once again, my apologies, to everyone.  

Sincerely yours,

Nick.

The original email

Hi Everyone,

I'm absolutely delighted to announce that dual Olympian Rachel Dawson will be joining the u21 management team for the Junior Pan American Championships in a video technology and coaching capacity.

This completes our management team following the recent departure of Katelyn Nerbonne from USA Field Hockey (Katelyn was originally in position as the video support staff).

Manager:  Dingo (Beijing 2008)
Head Coach:  Nick (London 2012)
Assistant Coach:  Shellie (Beijing 2008)
Video Coach:  Rachel (Beijing 2008, London 2012)
Trainer:  Katie (London 2012)

We are a stronger staff for the addition of Rachel Dawson.  If you don't already now Rach, you guys will absolutely love her.

Welcome Rach, you will love this group.  They have a unique fun loving energy that I know you will thrive on.

Safe travels to everyone on Saturday / Sunday.

Adios bitches,

Nick.

UniKL game, but odds against them..

UNIKL are game, but it would be a tall order for them to  deny a Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) home run in the  Premier Division of the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL)  today.
   The University team’s confidence stems from the face that  they held Sapura and Tenaga to an identical 2-2 draw in the  return leg of the MHL.
   However, their game against double champions KLHC  might just turn into a whipping exercise.
    “We are second from the bottom because we failed to win  any points in the first leg, but after holding Sapura and  Tenaga to draws in the return leg, we have nothing to lose but  much to gain as the semi-finals slot is still not out of our  reach,” said UniKL manager Amir Ibrahim.
    UniKL took 2-0 leads in both the matches, but inexperience  saw them losing out in the second half to end up sharing  points.
    “I expect my players to give it their best and come what  may, I am proud of their effort so far as they have tried their  level best, but we were unlucky at times,” said Amir.
     As for KLHC, they could seal the title by beating UniKL and  not wait for their last match against Tenaga to decide  matters.
    The title is KLHC’s to lose, as for Tenaga to catch up with  them in the last weekend, they must not only beat the double  champions, but also pray hard that UniKL pulls off he biggest  upset of the season.
    For the record, KLHC whipped UniKL 8-1 in the first leg.
    Noor Faeez Ibrahim is UniKL’s ace with nine penalty  corner goals out of the 15 they have scored this season.
  As for Division One, Armed Forces are just a win away from  the League title.
   The Army men top the standings with 11 points from five  matches and will complete their fixtures against a winless  Politeknik KPT.

PREMIER DIVISION

                     P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts
KLHC            8  6  1  1  43  11  19
TNB              8  4  4  0  22  16  16
Sapura          8  3  3  2  16  14  12
Maybank       8  2  3  3  16  21 9
UniKL           8  1  2  5  15  23  5
Nur Insafi     8  1  1  6  15  42  4

DIVISION ONE

                     P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts

Forces               5  3  2  0  8  4  11
Thunderbolt      5  3  1  1  10  5  10
BJSS                  5  3  0  2  18 14  9
Johor HA           5  3  0  2  15  14  9
Uniten               5  2  1  2  10  11  7
UiTM                4  1  0  3  5  10  3
Politeknik          5  0  0  5  7  15  0

   TODAY -- PREMIER DIVISION: Maybank v Nur Insafi  (National Stadium Pitch I, 6pm), UniKL  v KL Hockey Club  (National Stadium Pitch II, 6pm), Tenaga v  Sapura (National  Stadium Pitch II, 8pm).
    DIVISION ONE: UiTM  v Uniten  (National Stadium Pitch I,  5pm),

Double delight for Argentina at Junior Pan Ams

Argentina men claimed their tenth consecutive Junior Pan American title (Photo: FIH / PAHF / Paul Winstanley)

After 14 competition days, 79 matches and a staggering 521 goals, a hugely successful and entertaining Pan American Junior Championships in Guadalajara, Mexico has drawn to a close.
  It proved to be a fantastic event for Argentina, who continued their domination of the Junior Pan American competitions  by claiming Gold medals in both the men’s and the women’s competitions.
  For the men, it was a stunning tenth consecutive Junior Pan American tournament triumph, having won every event since the first edition in 1978. They continued their remarkable winning streak by defeating Canada in Sunday’s tournament final, but they were pushed every inch of the way by their rivals from North America. Canada twice held the lead in the game, but Argentina ran out 3-2 winners thanks to goals from Joaquin Menini, team captain Gonzalo Peillat and Joaquin Coelho.
   As well as captaining his side to the title, it was a stunning tournament for Gonzalo Peillat who was named both Player of the Tournament and Tournament Top Scorer with a 15 goals to his name. The penalty corner expert has certainly marked himself as a player to watch over the coming years.
  Women - Final Standings
1. Argentina, 2. Canada, 3. USA, 4. Chile, 5. Uruguay, 6. Venezuela, 7. Mexico, 8. Trinidad & Tobago, 9. Paraguay, 10. Jamaica, 11. Brazil.

Argentina (1st), Canada (2nd) and USA (3rd) have qualified for 7th FIH Women’s Junior World Cup
Player of the Tournament: Florencia Habif (Argentina)
Goal-keeper of the Tournament: Sofia Belen Monserrat (Argentina)
Top goal-scorer: Manuela Urroz (Chile) – 10.
Fair-play: Uruguay

Men - Final Standings
1. Argentina, 2. Canada, 3. Chile, 4. USA, 5. Trinidad & Tobago, 6. Mexico, 7. Barbados, 8. Uruguay, 9. Brazil, 10. Venezuela, 11. Jamaica, 12. Puerto Rico, 13. Guatemala.

Argentina (1st) and Canada (2nd) have qualified for the 10th FIH Junior World Cup. Chile (3rd) will be the 1st reserve country.

Player of the Tournament: Gonzalo Peillat (Argentina)
Goal-keeper of the Tournament: Kevin Pereira (Canada)
Top goal-scorer: Gonzalo Peillat (Argentina) – 15.
Fair-play: Barbados
  
 By FIH