Maddie Secco walked from UVic’s field hockey pitch to the soccer pitch on Tuesday afternoon in time to join the Oak Bay Bays halftime huddle.
Secco, a Grade 12 student at Oak Bay High, was unavailable for the Ryan Cup school soccer final due to her committment to the Canadian senior women’s field hockey team, which hosted Team U.S.A. for four friendlies May 19 to 23 at UVic.
Secco fought a nagging neck injury to play in two of the first three games, and found the opponent well-trained.
“(U.S.A.) is a highly skilled side,” Secco said. “The games haven’t gone our way score-wise, but we weren’t really expecting to score a lot against their well-structured defence.”
After Canada’s 5-2 loss on Tuesday, Secco and members of the team stuck around to practise on the field hockey turf. That’s when Secco made the short walk from one team to another. The Bays did just fine without her, winning the Ryan Cup, but Secco was the consummate teammate, showing up in support.
On Friday (May 25) the national women's field hockey team flies to Argentina for a series of test matches against Argentina and Chile.