Cavalier Standouts Building on International ExperienceCavalier Standouts Building on International Experience
Frank Uijlenbroek

Cavalier Standouts Building on International Experience

UVA's Mia Abello and Mary Adams played for the U.S. field hockey team that placed sixth, its best finish ever, at the Junior World Cup last month in Santiago, Chile.

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — As they endure the arctic weather that’s descended upon Central Virginia, Mia Abello and Mary Adams might occasionally grow nostalgic about their recent trip to South America.

Field hockey teammates at the University of Virginia, Abello and Adams played for the United States at the Junior World Cup last month in Santiago, Chile, where the high temperature each day was usually in the 80s.

For Abello, a third-year student from Houston, it was her second Junior World Cup as a member of the U.S. under-21 team. For Adams, a freshman from Andover, Mass., it was her first. For both, it was an unforgettable experience. They helped the U.S. place sixth in the 24-team tournament, its highest finish ever.

“It was cool being part of such a successful team,” Adams said. “Everyone was so talented. Looking back on it now, it's so impressive that we were able to even do as well as we did. All of these teams have been training for months and years together, and the cohesion and the trust and the connections that we were able to build over such a short amount of time was honestly one of the coolest parts that I took out of that.”

Field hockey is one of the NCAA’s fall sports, and when the U.S. team was announced, most of its members, including Adams and Abello, were in the midst of their college seasons. U.S. head coach Ange Bradley holds that same position at Syracuse.

“Literally, the first time that we trained together was when we all landed down in Chile together,” Adams said. “It sounds kind of crazy to say it out loud. But we ended up being pretty good.”

Before flying to Chile, the team gathered in Miami, where some introductions were necessary. That was the first time the players and coaches were all together in the same place.

“And then we got on an eight-hour red-eye [flight] to Chile, which was brutal,” Adams said, laughing. “But no, it was really fun.”

The U.S. team arrived in Santiago on Nov. 26 and played its first game on Dec. 1 at the National Stadium Sports Park. The U.S. finished the tournament with a 4-2 record, defeating New Zealand, Korea, Uruguay and England and falling to Belgium and Germany.

“It just kind of showed how when we came to Chile, we were all invested and wanted to be there and got better every game,” Abello said. “And we started off strong in our two scrimmages. We scrimmaged the second day we got there and beat Australia 3-1 without any training together. We just had to really rely on simplicity and figure out how to work together.”

UVA head coach Ole Keusgen said it was “obviously a great outcome for U.S. field hockey and particularly for the team. It was just harsh with the timing. Everyone was tired from season, postseason, exams. So the timing honestly couldn't have been any worse for the U.S. team.”

When they weren’t practicing or playing in Chile, Abello and Adams usually were studying for or taking final exams. The same was true for most of their teammates, too.

“Thankfully,” Abello said, “I didn't have a professor who didn't understand what I was doing or why I was doing it, which was awesome.”

Abello and Adams both had family members cheering them on in Santiago, and the players usually spent what little free time they had with relatives.

“So maybe an hour or two here and there,” Abello said.

Mia Abello (left) and Mary AdamsMia Abello (left) and Mary Adams

Keusgen is from Germany, and he says American players benefit from facing teams from outside the United States. For Abello, that’s nothing new. She’s been part of the U.S. under-21 team for several years, and she’s also played for the senior national team.

“Besides the overall experience of the World Cup, which is very unique, you certainly different cultures of play,” Keusgen said. “What I mean specifically is the European style, it's a lot more possessive, there are different skills, there's a different flow to the field hockey game than in America.”

European teams “possess the ball more,” Keusgen said. “Their skills are a lot more refined, with less unforced errors, for example. So naturally you have a different game. You have to defend differently, because every attack takes a lot longer, and you need to have a second, third, fourth effort to make sure you get it tactically right [on defense].

“Here, often you get the first action defensively right and then usually that ends up in a turnover or change of possession, where against those teams, especially Belgium and Holland and Germany this year, they make you work every possession.”

Abello, a first-team All-ACC selection, led the Wahoos with 20 points in 2025, on nine goals and two assists. Adams was fourth on the team with 10 points, on four goals and two assists.

“Coming into a season is always different for first-years, but I feel like Mary was one of those that transitioned very well into our team in terms of confidence,” Keusgen said. “But I do believe it gives you a certain confidence when you were part of that [U.S.] team, when you were part of that [Junior World Cup]. It gives you a certain professionalism too, where you’re like, ‘OK, I want to make the next step. The next tournament is around the corner.’ ”

Abello agreed. “When you go to these tournaments, there's a certain drive and ambition amongst the team that reminds you how much you love playing at a high level, and you feed off your teammates and the coaches,” she said.

Adams’ sister Lucy, who starred at Brown, played with Abello at a Junior World Cup and is now a member of the U.S. senior national team. Mary Adams has started down a similar path.

“I think the biggest thing about being a part of that USA environment is it just fuels you mentally,” Adams said. “I, being one of the youngest on the team, had so many leaders to look up to, and it just motivated me. It showed me what a good teammate looks like and what it means to compete at the highest level, and it just made me hungry. It made me want to work harder to get back there the next time, and it made me want to work harder and achieve my goals and dreams at UVA. It also just teaches you the standard that you should bring to every single meeting and practice and game and how you can always get better. So every time that I go to a USA camp, I get better technically, but the things that I take away the most are the mentality and learning how to be a better teammate and leader.”

For Virginia, a fantastic 2025 season ended earlier than expected. UVA, which was seeded No. 4 in the 18-team NCAA tournament, lost to Miami-Ohio in a first-round game at Turf Field.

Spring practices have begun for the Cavaliers, who don’t want to experience such disappointment again next fall.

“That’s a feeling that will definitely stick with me,” Abello said, “and so we're gonna use that to drive us.”

The 2025 season was one “that I think any freshman would dream of,” Adams said. “The team was amazing, the environment was amazing, we were doing so well. We were winning and we were having so much fun doing it. I think we all had the expectation that we could go the distance, and I think losing in the way that we did, it just made us so much more hungry for next year. I have full faith in this group, and I’m so excited for what's to come. Yeah, [losing to Miami] really sucked, but I think the silver lining of it is that I think it has motivated every returner on the team to do everything possible to never feel that feeling again.”

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