For five seasons, goalkeeper Kaitlyn Williams guarded the University of Victoria field hockey net like a momma bear protecting her cubs. There is nobody better to have in the Canadian crease at the Pan Am Games next month in Toronto, in a tournament in which the gold-medallist team stamps its ticket to the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. All the other qualifying routes have been exhausted. This is sa国际传媒鈥檚 last chance for Rio.
The 25-year-old Williams, an anthropology major, is eventually headed to the UVic Sports Hall of Fame. She would like to arrive there an Olympian, as so many Vikes players before her. It is moments like these that define a career.
The Canadian women鈥檚 field-hockey team for the Pan Am Games was named Thursday and includes former UVic Vikes stars Williams, forward Thea Culley, defender Danielle Hennig, and also Oak Bay High-produced midfielder and NCAA Pac-12 standout Maddie Secco from the Stanford Cardinal.
sa国际传媒 opens July 13 against the Dominican Republic with competition continuing through July 24. sa国际传媒 is ranked No. 20 in the world and third in the Pan Am Games, behind world No. 3 Argentina and the world No. 5 United States. Nobody said it was going to be easy. But if anybody is going to be crucial in sa国际传媒鈥檚 bid for the top of the podium, it鈥檚 starting goaltender Williams.
UVic head coach Lynne Beecroft remembers an inexhaustible and fearless battler.
鈥淜aitlyn wanted to face all the shots,鈥� said Beecroft, herself a 1984 L.A. Olympian.
鈥淪he took every shot over five years, in practice and games. She was our only goalie. She never took a break off from a single shooting drill.鈥�
As with that other brand of hockey on ice, goaltending is often the difference between failure and success for teams. sa国际传媒 is good hands in Toronto in that regard.
鈥淲hatever it takes to stop the ball, Kaitlyn does it,鈥� said Beecroft.
It鈥檚 amazing considering Williams didn鈥檛 even take up field hockey until after high school in a spring league in Coquitlam. Her impact at UVic was immediate as she was named 2007 CIS rookie of the year in a career in which she won a national title with the Vikes in 2008 and was sa国际传媒 West goalkeeper of the year in 2011.
Williams, Culley and Hennig came to the right place to elevate themselves to the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games and, just maybe, the 2016 Rio Olympics.
鈥淏etween myself and [UVic assistant coaches] Krista Thompson and Andrea Rushton, we have more than 25 years of international experience playing for sa国际传媒, so we can provide that knowledge, expertise and information for players who aspire to the next level,鈥� said Beecroft.
鈥淣ow we have [current Vikes] Rosie Beale and Kathleen Leahy knocking on the door for future Canadian national team assignments.鈥�
UVic Vikes alumni on the world No. 15 Canadian men鈥檚 field hockey team to Toronto are Brenden Bissett and Matthew Sarmento.
More than 60 Island athletes will compete in the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games, which run July 10-24.
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