Julius Named to U.S. U-21 Women's National Team

After participating in the USA Field Hockey U-21 selection camp, Liberty sophomore field hockey player Abby Julius has been selected to the 2017 U.S. U-21 Women's National Team roster.
Julius is the first player in Liberty field hockey history to earn selection to the U.S. U-21 Women's National Team.

"It's a huge honor, and I feel really blessed to be given this opportunity," Julius said. "It really feels good to get the validation that all of the time and energy I've put into this sport is really paying off, and has been so worth it."

The roster, comprised of 26 players from across the nation, was selected by current U.S. Women's National Team Head Coach Janneke Schopman based on performance at U-21 training camps, high performance and Junior National Camps, the Young Women's National Championship and during the college season. The final training camp took place this past Sunday-Tuesday at Spooky Nook Sports in Lancaster, Pa.

According to USA Field Hockey, "the selection process took into account the willingness to learn and athletes' abilities to improve and grow with the ultimate goal to become a national team player."

Julius was a second team All-BIG EAST honoree for the Lady Flames in 2016. She totaled five goals, four assists and 14 points in 17 contests as a sophomore. Julius' most notable games came in BIG EAST play at Villanova on Sept. 16 (two goals) and vs. Quinnipiac on Sept. 23 (two goals). She also tallied a goal at No. 1 UConn on Oct. 15 and dished out a career-high three assists against Georgetown on Oct. 8.

Julius was selected to the 2017 U.S. U-21 Women's National Team roster.

During her freshman campaign, Julius netted three goals, four assists and 10 points in 16 games.

The U.S. U-21 Women's National Team (USWNT) will hold two training camps in 2017. The first one will be from Feb. 11-15 at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. At that camp, the team will practice as well as scrimmage against the U.S. Women's National Team. The team will also participate in a second training camp from March 17-19 at Duke.

In 2016, the U-21 USWNT hosted Great Britain's U-21 Team for a five-game test series, going 3-1-1 Team. After that, they played in the Junior Women's Pan American Championship in Trinidad & Tobago in March and finished with a silver medal, qualifying the team for the women's Hockey Junior World Cup. At the Hockey Junior World Cup in November in Santiago, Chile, the team finished the event in eighth place.