For Mohegan Lake Native, Olympic Experience Shines Without Gold
This was not the result Melissa Gonzalez had envisioned for her Olympic debut.
The 23-year-old Lakeland High School alum played in her last game of these 2012 London Games last Friday morning. Gonzalez and her U.S. field hockey teammates lost to Belgium 2-1 to finish dead last in the 12-team tournament.
“You go in with high expectations and sometimes it’s the nature of sport; you don’t always get the result that you want,” said the two-time All-American at UConn who was named to the national team in 2010. “But you just got to keep fighting, not just for yourself, but for your teammates and obviously for your country. It’s just a little disappointing not coming out the way we wanted,” she said moments after coming off the field after the loss to Belgium.
The U.S. Team, which was looking to win a field hockey medal for the first time since 1984, had a promising start to the tournament. After an opening game loss, they bounced back strongly to defeat Argentina. That was the only loss for the South Americans, who ended up moving on to face the Netherlands last Friday night for the gold medal.
But after consecutive one-goal losses to Australia and New Zealand, the U.S. team hit rock bottom against South Africa, losing 7-0. That was the only win of the tournament for South Africa and put the Americans in the 11-versus-12 game to try to avoid finishing in last place.
“I think for us, obviously, we have a lot of potential and we know that,” said Gonzalez. “I can’t pinpoint one exact thing, but I know that we fought every game and we tried and gave it our best.”
She added that it was a thrill to play at raucous Riverbank Arena, where several thousand boisterous fans attended each game; even the Americans’ last-place match against Belgium that was played at 8:30 a.m.
“Especially because the sport is not as big in America, I think the crowd was amazing,” she said. “Every game, whether they were for or against you, it was great that you were just having that support from people everywhere.”
Gonzalez also had plenty of memorable highlights away from the stadium, including walking in the opening ceremony and rubbing shoulders with some famous athletes from other sports.
“It’s just something that you’re going to cherish,” she said of her Olympic experience. “I’ve been snapping photos non-stop. You have to kind of calm yourself down at certain points where you’re like, ‘Oh my God, Tyson Chandler, I’m the biggest Knicks fan.’ This is an amazing experience and you’re seeing all these people, but at the same time you have to realize that you’re here to compete. And just being able to compete against the best is just eye-opening and humbling and being able to play alongside people who’ve pushed you and helped you develop, there’s nothing better than this.”
Gonzalez had been living in Coronado, Calif., where she trained with the national team. But she said she’ll be returning to UConn soon to take some courses and “help their hockey team and keep training and getting better.”
She’s already thinking about being on the team for the Rio Games in 2016.
“A lot of people might say it was a great experience, but for me, people don’t come here for the experience. They come to do great things. And although being here is a great, big experience, I know that it’s just going to drive me and the rest of my team to propel us to go forward,” she said.
Following the end of competition for the U.S. Field hockey team, Gonzalez said she would enjoy the final days of the games and was looking forward to the closing ceremony held on Sunday night.
Gonzalez also said she was blown away by the support of everyone back home.
“It’s been incredible,” she said. “I’ve gotten text messages of my friends holding the flag, people having parties for every game. I’ve had friends’ families contact me, just people within the community contacting me. It’s just been so overwhelming that I haven’t even been able to respond to everybody. But I just want to thank every single person.”
By Ed Klajman
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
