Tokyo
\nNat Sourisseau has not forgotten the pain of missing out on the Tokyo Olympics after losing a penalty shootout 4-3 to Ireland in 2019.
\n\u201cIt was definitely very difficult and I think it would be impossible for it not to stay with people,\u201d said the Canada field hockey captain. \u201cTo come so so close and then not make it there.\u201d
\n\u201cBut all of the lows and all of the hard times also cause you to grow quite a bit,\u201d she added.
\nOn Saturday, Sourisseau and the Canadian women open play in Valencia, Spain, in one of two Olympic women\u2019s last-chance qualifiers. The Canadian men start their qualifier on Monday in Oman.
\nThe 16th-ranked Canadian women have sat out the last seven Olympics, last taking part in 1992 in Barcelona where they finished seventh. They were fifth in 1984 and sixth in 1988 before that.
\nSourisseau, in her fourth Olympic qualifying campaign, is looking forward to the challenge.
\n\u201cI think there\u2019s a beautiful opportunity in front of us,\u201d said the 31-year-old midfielder from Kelowna, B.C., who now makes her home in Vancouver. \u201cEspecially at a high-stakes tournament like an Olympic qualifier.
\n\u201cCrazy things always happen and weird things always happen. I think we just have to approach this tournament and give it everything that we have and appreciate what an opportunity it is.\u201d
\nThe Canadians are in Pool B with No. 8 Spain, No. 18 Malaysia and Britain, which is unranked by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). England is ranked seventh, Scotland 17th and Wales 26th.
\nPool A is made up of No. 4 Belgium, No. 12 South Korea, No. 13 Ireland and No. 28 Ukraine.
\nThe top three finishers at the tournament will go to Paris. That likely means notching two pool wins and one more in the knockout stage.
\nIt won\u2019t be easy.
\nBritain won gold at the 2016 Olympics and bronze in Tokyo while Spain, which finished seventh in Tokyo, has missed out on qualifying for just one edition of the Games since 1992.
\nThere is a simultaneous eight-team women\u2019s tournament in India with the identical format and qualification path.
\nSourisseau, who made her senior international debut in 2011, has won 174 caps for Canada. The roster in Spain features two other players with 100-plus caps \u2014 defenders Sara McManus (211) and Karli Johansen (169) \u2014 as well as nine players with 25 or fewer.
\nSourisseau, McManus, Johansen, Kat Leahy, Elise Wong and Rowan Harris all played in the 2019 Olympic qualifier in Ireland which went to a shootout after the two-legged series ended knotted at 0-0.
\n\u201cIt feels like a totally new adventure this time around,\u201d said Sourisseau. \u201cThe team is different, the coaching staff is different.\u201d
\nThe Canadian women booked their ticket to Valencia in November by finishing fourth at the Pan American Games in Santiago. Canada lost 3-0 to eventual champion Argentina in the semifinal and 2-0 to Chile in the bronze-medal game.
\nThe Pan Am Games title earned No. 3 Argentina direct qualification to the Paris Olympics.
\nThe women ended an 28-year absence from the FIH Hockey World Cup when they qualified for the 2022 edition in Spain and the Netherlands, where they tied for 15th.
\nDanny Kerry, former coach of England and Britain, was named Canada women\u2019s coach in March. Kerry led Britain\u2019s women to bronze at the 2012 Olympics in London and gold in 2016 in Rio before taking over the British men in 2018.
\nFormer Britain captain Kate Richardson-Walsh is an assistant coach under Kerry.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s been incredible,\u201d said Sourisseau. \u201cThey bring so much to our program and they\u2019ve been able to work with us on some areas that we really needed serious development in. Even for someone who\u2019s been around for so long, it\u2019s been really really awesome to have people who are not only so experienced but so good at actually teaching.\u201d
\nThe Canadian women had a month-long camp in Vancouver, toured the U.S. earlier this year and played three practice matches ahead of the Spain tournament. But funding remains tight.
\nOn then coach Giles Bonnet\u2019s suggestion, the women moved to Belgium in September 2018 to join club teams, giving them access to elite coaches and trainers while allowing the Amsterdam-based Bonnet to work with them regularly.
\nThey had to turn to family, friends and supporters to fund their Tokyo Olympic qualifying campaign.
\n\u201cIt definitely wasn\u2019t an easy period but it\u2019s almost never been easy. In the 13 years that I\u2019ve been around there\u2019s always huge challenge,\u201d said Sourisseau, who spent seven years playing club hockey in the Netherlands and Belgium. \u201cI think that\u2019s amateur sport in Canada but especially with our sport there\u2019s not a lot of funding and it takes a lot from the athletes and a lot of sacrificing.
\n\u201cBut I think that\u2019s also why it can be satisfying in the end when things do go your way after all you\u2019ve been through.\u201d
\nAway from hockey, Sourisseau started medical school in the fall at UBC.
\nCanada Women
\nGoalkeeper: Rowan Harris, Ottawa; Marcia LaPlante, Wassis, N.B.
\nDefenders: Karli Johansen, North Vancouver; Sara Goodman, Duncan, B.C.; Kathleen Leahy, Victoria; Sara McManus, Tsawwassen, B.C.; Anna Mollenhauer, Victoria; Elise Wong, Lake Forest, Ill.
\nMidfielders: Grace Delmotte, North Vancouver; Jordyn Faiczak, Waterloo, Ont.; Kenzie Girgis, Ottawa; Audrey Sawers, North Vancouver; Melanie Scholz, Calgary; Natalie Sourisseau, Kelowna, B.C.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tokyo Nat Sourisseau has not forgotten the pain of missing out on the Tokyo Olympics after losing a penalty shootout 4-3 to Ireland in 2019. \u201cIt was definitely very difficult and I think it would be impossible for it not to stay with people,\u201d said the Canada field hockey captain. \u201cTo come so so close […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-380720","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n