There are few things that an athlete dreams of more than the chance to play their sport at the Division I level, except maybe the opportunity to wear their county's name on the front of their jersey.

Two members of the UMass Lowell field hockey team earned that special opportunity this past summer when they participated in international competition and helped lead their respective countries to gold medals. Senior Jenna Berger (Waterloo, Ontario) played with Team Canada at the Junior Pan American Games in Chile, while sophomore Alissia de Vries (The Hague, Netherlands) represented Team France at the Euro Hockey U18 Championship in Switzerland.

Berger, who finished tied for first on the River Hawk squad as a junior with four goals, first received a phone call from her trainer encouraging her to travel to Vancouver to train with members of the Team Canada program. After a month of training, she was invited to a tryout that lasted three weeks.

"I'd never been a part of Team Canada, so that was something I always strived for," Berger explained.

Following the tryout, all she could do was wait. Then one night when she was home watching TV with her family, she received an unexpected phone call from her coach.

"I went upstairs to talk and he told me the news," Berger remembered. "I ran back downstairs to tell my parents, but didn't know what to say because I was in complete shock. I was at a loss for words."

Fast forward to August of 2021 when Berger was typically in the midst of preseason in Lowell. This year, however, she was making the trek to Santiago, Chile to help Canada vie for its first ever gold medal at the Pan Am Games. Her team went undefeated in pool play, which included a bout with Argentina, who had won seven of the last eight Pan American Championships.

"We went into the game with the mindset that it was a normal field hockey game," Berger said. "Eleven on Eleven with a ball and we didn't care who were playing."

Their focus helped to deliver a 1-0 victory, and that same mentality would then carry Canada to victory against Chile in the semifinal.

The gold medal match against Uruguay nearly went all of regulation without a goal, until the 53^rd minute when Canada finally broke through to win the championship. The score came on a corner attempt and Berger recalled the huddle just before the play was made.

"We got together and understood this was our opportunity to win ourselves a gold medal. We looked around the circle and just knew this would be it."

Their play worked and Team Canada left Chile as Pan American Champions.

De Vries, unlike Berger, had previous experience competing in international tournaments with the French team. The 2021 America East All-Conference selection had played in the European Championship in Santander during her high school career, and competed in the Super A and Super B leagues. With all of her experience in international competition, she hopes to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games.

This summer, de Vries returned to the Team France roster for her fifth year. As a veteran on the team surrounded by much younger players, she took on a greater leadership role.

Prior to the 2021 Euro Hockey Championship, Team France participated in three exhibition matches against Poland to prepare for the tournament. Little did they expect that they would meet again for a fourth time in the semifinals of the international event.

"We knew that this was where we needed to show that we were better than them," de Vries recalled about the semifinal round. "Everyone was so excited to play against [Poland] for that matchup. But in the last quarter, we saw that both teams were so evenly matched and wanted to win so bad."

No goals were scored for the entirety of regulation and overtime, eventually forcing a shootout. Yet, more was at stake than a championship. De Vries explained that the two teams who reached the final would secure promotion to the highest division of play in European leagues.

Both Poland and France were even at 2-2 in the shootout, which forced a sudden-victory round. A French tally put them ahead, 3-2, and Poland was unable to answer after a shot rang off the post to end the match.

"Everyone was crying, and coach gave me a big hug," exclaimed de Vries. "Finally, we had made it back to the highest level after five years. Even thinking about it gives me goosebumps. Just standing on the field, everything we'd been fighting for after five years and we finally made it."

De Vries explained that even the gold medal in the tournament was secondary to getting back to the top division.

"We saw our final game as a fun game. Just to go out and show why we're worth getting a gold medal. There was less pressure in the final."

Their loose play led Team France to victory, 1-0, against Austria in the title game, an added bonus to what they had achieved one round prior.

The international experiences for Berger and de Vries may have been different, but the takeaways for both were rather similar.

"I put a lot of things to the side to try and achieve this and it worked for me, so I'll continue to do that," Berger said. "Focusing on the controllables and making the most out of every opportunity. You never know when your season is going to end."

In transitioning from national squads to the UMass Lowell program, each player stated that they gained a greater appreciation for the River Hawk commitment to excellence on and off the field. Additionally, the knowledge gained at another level of play from other reputable athletes has enabled them to return to Lowell and share with their teammates.

De Vries summed it up by saying she returned to the River Hawks with more confidence and an understanding of what it takes to be a champion.

"It takes a lot. There's practice every day and school, but you're going through it all to be the best performing player you can be," she said. "I feel like because Jenna and I both experienced that, we can help each other and the rest of our team have the right mentality to reach the highest level of success."