Ally Hummel. (Photo credit: USA Field Hockey / Worldsportpics.com)
West Bridgewater athletic director Jen Hummel might not normally be able to wake up before sunrise to stream international field hockey. But for one week in mid-January, she gave it her all to watch the U.S. women's national team play around the world at the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifier in Ranchi, India.
why?
Her daughter, Allie Hummel, is a former field hockey star at Duxbury College (2014), Loomis Chaffee College (Connecticut) and Boston College, where she competed with the USWNT for a ticket to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris . This was America's last chance to qualify. And with a 2-1 win over Japan in the semi-final round to seal his spot, the 27-year-old defender realized his dream he had told his mother as a child all those years ago. .
Whether the game was at 9 a.m. local time, 6:30 a.m. local time, or 6 a.m., Jen didn't miss out on what Allie had been working towards for so long.
“To be able to go out on the field and see her achieve the goals that she had in life, and to see her play for her country, it makes me so proud and I feel so proud of her. It really means a lot to me to be so happy,” Jen said. . “Oh, it's hard to put into words. (It's) pretty emotional.”
But the word “emotional” doesn't even begin to cover the journey so far for both Allie and his U.S. teammates.
Allie knew what she wanted early on in her athletic career. She initially thought her Olympic appearance would come from ice hockey, but after she picked up a field hockey stick in seventh grade, she realized where her true talent and joy lay. It didn't take that long. Allie was on the legendary Duxbury girls hockey team that won four consecutive state titles from 2011 to 2014, but she was a member of Loomis after she finished graduate school at Chaffee. It was her field hockey that led her to play at Boston University.
Massachusetts has produced many quality college players, but not many have gone on to do as well in their playing careers, at least compared to schools like Penn State. Anything above BU was more of a dream than anything else. But after a conversation with the club's coach, and Terriers head coach, Sally Starr, Allie regained the confidence he needed to move toward his goals.
“I remember my coach at the club saying, 'Hey, you really can do this.' If you want to go, you can go,” Allie said. “(Starr) said the same thing. …That was the kind of push I needed to try.”
It was a bit of a shock not to make the USWNT in the first tryout. However, Allie, BU's first two-time NFHCA All-American First Team honoree and two-time Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year, tried out again the following year and was named to the developmental team. She earned her first international cap in 2020 and has since amassed a further 61 caps, the sixth-most in the team. This includes helping the United States finish her fourth at the 2022 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, and winning a silver medal the following year.
It was a good idea for her to do so from Massachusetts.
“I think field hockey is still growing in our area,” Allie said. “It's a great honor to represent New England and Massachusetts, and I know my teammate from Connecticut (Beth Jaeger) feels the same way. Our goals are to represent this sport. It's about continuing to grow, and that's the most important thing.”
But until January, nothing meant a trip to the Olympics. Neither she nor the rest of the players on her USWNT roster are sure whether they will be able to participate in the trip yet. Only 16 of her will be selected.
But for now, with some athletes working part-time or receiving coaching remotely, qualifying after grueling, seemingly 24-hour training has been incredibly fulfilling. Especially since it's the team's last chance to do so since the U.S. last competed in 2016.
“It was really rewarding to feel all the hard work that I put in over the last six months or so, even last year, to get to that moment where I qualified,” Allie said. “I'm not just grateful for myself, and of course this has been a goal of mine for a long time. But seeing my teammates and their excitement, I felt the energy that they wanted this all along. The team We have female athletes who haven't seen the Olympics in almost eight years. It's incredibly rewarding. It lifts my spirits, it's very emotional.”
The USWNT fell 2-0 to Germany in the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualification Final, but needed a top-three finish to qualify. The defense took the lead in making that happen.
In the pool games, the United States did not allow a single goal and won all of them. By shutting out India 1-0, the Americans ruined their last chance to qualify in 2020. With a 2-0 win over Italy and a 1-0 win over New Zealand, the U.S. advanced to the semifinals, where it will need to recover. They overcame a 1-0 deficit in the fourth quarter to win against Japan.
Preparation was key.
“We spent many days considering each team we would play,” Allie said. “We’re not trying to be the best, we’re trying to outsmart every team, and I really think we did that.”
The United States will be in Group B of pool play along with Australia, Argentina, England, Spain and South Africa. Play begins July 27th.
