Ventura County Finds a Representative : Field hockey: Sunkist Ladies are area’s first entry in 20-year-old tournament.

Forty-four men’s and women’s field hockey teams from Canada, Mexico, Australia, Taiwan and the United States will convene at Moorpark College this weekend for the 20th Cal Cup tournament.

But amid the international tournament field, the players from at least one team can drive to the playing field in less than an hour.

The Ventura County Sunkist Ladies will be the first team to represent Ventura County in the tournament. The team, formed only three months ago, consists of players with various levels of experience, ranging from those who played in college as many as 15 years ago to those too young yet for the college game. Players range in age from 15 to 38.

“We’ve come up with a pretty good team,” said Elona Leavens of Ventura. “We are good enough to compete with some of the women’s teams, but even if that’s wrong and we can not play with them, we are going to enter. We are all curious to see how well we can do.”

Lori Ingalls, a newcomer to the sport, founded the team in mid-February and hired Coach John Stockdill, who has played in 12 Cal Cup tournaments and also has played on the U.S. team three times in the Pan American Games. A veteran of international play, Stockdill believes his team is ready to face squads from other nations.

“These women are really good, and I am amazed by it,” Stockdill said. “Some of them had not played since high school, but it’s like they haven’t lost a thing. They’ll be able to give some of the university teams coming to Cal Cup a challenge.

“The teams from California universities are among the best in the country, but this team can play with them. We don’t have a weak position on the team, and we have some good backups as well.”

In five games against Field Hockey Federation competition, the Sunkist Ladies have scored 19 goals and allowed only one. Leavens and Tricia Noblett have led the offense, and Deana Lancaster and Bern Kirby have keyed the defense.

The opposition will be stiffer in this weekend’s tournament, but most team members are unconcerned with wins and losses.

“My mouth was hanging open when I heard about this. I knew I wanted to play again,” said Leavens, who had not picked up a field hockey stick since playing in high school 22 years ago. “I hadn’t heard about anywhere to play, until this came up. Some women thought they were too old, but I was one of the first to sign up. The women are usually last on the list for recreation activities, so I wasn’t going to pass on this chance.”

The team’s development has been hampered by logistic problems that prevent the team from practicing together. Although few players live far from practice and game sites, many have jobs that take them away from Ventura County. Noblett, who works in Seal Beach, showed her dedication to the team by arriving for some practices via helicopter.

“We are the only team in Ventura County, and some players have to juggle schedules and come great distances (after work) to get to games and practices,” Ingalls said. “We have 18 people on the team, but we usually only have 11 or 12 at the game. We have never been able to socialize together and get to know each other away from the field.”

Enough players have squeezed field hockey into their schedules to generate confidence.

“We are coming together real well,” said center-forward Pam Church of Oxnard, who works as an aerospace engineer in Ventura. “When we first started, people would stream in and out and we had a new player come in every week. Now, we have people who are committed. We have found out who is strong on offense, defense and we have a good goalie. We are more like a team.”