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Two-time USA field hockey Olympian and U.S. Women’s National Team veteran Paige Selenski announced her decision to leave the international pitch after seven years on Team USA’s roster.
The former Dallas field hockey star collected a total of 142 international caps, along with the global recognition as one sharpest shooters for the red, white and blue.
She scored a goal for Team USA in the 2012 London Games and, while returning fr0m a torn hamstring, served as an alternate for team that finished fifth overall at the 2016 Rio Games — the highest finish for a United States field hockey team in 20 years.
Selenski’s joined fellow former Wyoming Valley Conference star Kelsey Kolojejchick, who accepted an assistant coaching position at Syracuse University earlier this month, in retiring from Team USA.
Kolojejchick, a two-time state champion while playing at Wyoming Seminary who became North Carolina’s first four-time first-team All-American, started every game for Team USA in her only Olympic action at the Rio Games last summer. She finished her career with 104 Olympic caps.
Selenski was a first-team high school All-American and 2007 Pennsylvania Player of the Year at Dallas. She finished eighth in NCAA history with 238 career points and was a four-time All-American at the University of Virginia.
Selenski’s international career highlights included the historical 2011 Pan American Games win against Argentina in Guadalajara, Mexico and the 2014 World Cup in The Hague, The Netherlands, specifically her 100th cap against Great Britain.
But the cherished reel of career spotlights doesn’t end there for Selenski.
She recalls the fond off-field times of living in the “birds nest” in Coronado, Calif. with teammates, a team retreat to Breckenridge, Colo. in 2011 and the London 2012 Olympic Games and Rio 2016 Olympic Games Opening Ceremonies.
As a 2012 Olympian, participating in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games was a goal for Selenski, despite her medical setback with a hamstring that was torn so severely, it required surgery to repair. Selenski was able to push through the adversity to earn one of the two alternate openings on Team USA’s Rio roster.
“I had a tough year and a half leading into Rio, in terms of injuries, and was honored and thankful to be part of the group in Rio as an alternate,” said Selenski. “Before the start of the Olympic Games, Craig Parnham (Team USA’s head coach for the 2016 Rio Games) had us go around in a circle and talk about what the person sitting to left and the person sitting to the right of us brought to the team. Jackie Briggs and Rachel Dawson spoke about me, and I will never forget it for as long as I live.”
Selenski currently resides in Philadelphia where she’ll be attending Thomas Jefferson University’s Pre-Medical Post-Baccalaureate program this fall. She is looking to pursue a career in the medical field. Selenski, who lost her mother to ovarian cancer, also recently started volunteering for a number of ovarian and breast cancer foundations and is mentoring the young women and the mothers of young women considering genetic testing for the BRCA gene. She is also a new member of the junior committee for the Sandy Rollman Ovarian Cancer Foundation in Philadelphia.