Campbell, Umstead return to US national team

The local presence on the United States field hockey women’s national team remains strong. As strong as it was before you could say.

A pair of former Mercury AllArea Players of the Year have earned places on the 2020 national team roster in Boyertown native Ali (McEvoy) Campbell and Green Lane native Casey Umstead.

Ali (McEvoy) Campbell is making her USWNT team return after retiring from the senior national team in June 2017 with 31 international caps to her resumé. She is back with the senior national team under new coach Caroline Nelson-Nichols, a national team player from 2007-14 and two-time Olympian. Campbell never strayed far from USA field hockey: she stayed on as a member of the U.S. Women’s National Indoor Team and in October 2017 helped the squad win the Indoor Pan American Cup and finish 10th at the 2018 Indoor Hockey World Cup.

Upper Perkiomen graduate Umstead returns from a second season after playing with the national team in the inaugural season of the FIH Pro League in 2019. A defender who made the team in 2018, she has 25 international caps to her name.

Athletes attended the team trial that took place Monday, January 6 to Wednesday, January 8 in Lancaster.

Other southeast Pa. team members include two Twin Valley alums in Kelee Lepage and Ashley Hoffman. Another Berks representative is Karlie Heistand, who was elevated after spending the past three years with the USA Development Team.

The 2020 calendar for the USWNT will begin with the second edition of the FIH Hockey Pro League. USA kicks off competition on Friday, January 24 against No. 1