Condors to Defend Field Hockey Title

The Ventura Condors will be out to defend their championship and collect a $2,500 prize in the California Cup, the largest field hockey tournament in North America that starts today at Moorpark College.

The Condors will be challenged by 1991 Cup winner Nigeria and two U.S. teams, Greenwich from Stamford, Conn., and Rye from Allentown, Pa.

The Condors, formerly known as the Roadrunners, are one of 90 teams entered in the once-small, 22-year-old tournament that now features players from ages 16 to over 55.

“It started out with six teams and now people come from all over the world,” said Mary Honeyman, a member of the California Cup organizing committee.

What started as a small community event in 1971 now attracts teams from Australia, England, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Mexico, Malaysia, Nigeria and Taiwan and carries international implications.

“The U.S. Field Hockey Assn. recognizes this as an international tournament, so the teams that come from foreign countries go back with a lot of prestige if they win,” Honeyman said. “Some of the countries are even sending their national teams. And a lot of our Olympic players will be out there.”

Put Maldavia, Armenia and a team from Moscow on the list of newcomers.

The tournament includes 10 different divisions, from youths to seniors. But the top field hockey teams will compete in the Super Men and Super Women divisions, which award cash prizes of $2,500, $1,500 and $1,000 to the top three finishers.

Super Women, a division added this year, will consist of two Northern California teams, Moscow, Maldavia and Mexico.

Each team will play two games today and Sunday. Championship games are played Monday before a 2:30 p.m. awards ceremony.