Jawwad Qamar
The 54th California Cup saw Team Osaka repeat by completely dominating the Trash Pandas 5-1 for their fourth Cal Cup title. Five different players; Natalie Hoppe, Dani van Rootselaar, Stella Malinowski, Sophie Knight and Emma Donnelly scored for the team from Canada giving it a 5-0 lead that stood until the last minute when Mia Digiulio’s penalty corner strike broke the shutout for the Pandas.
Osaka previously won Cal Cup 48 in 2019, Cal Cup 51 in 2023 and Cal Cup 53 last year.
Osaka previously won Cal Cup 48 in 2019, Cal Cup 51 in 2023 and Cal Cup 53 last year.
2024 winners, Thirsty Turtles prevailed over the Colorado Bears 3-2 in a shootout after a scoreless draw in regulation to take the bronze medal.
Team Osaka’s Stella Malinowski was the winner of Ross Rutledge Award as the outstanding player of the tournament. She was also the top scorer in the women’s division with seven goals.
In the men’s division, local favorites, Bulldogs edged out San Jose Khalsa 3-2 thanks to the last-minute penalty corner goal by Aki Kaeppeler. Kaeppeler had levelled the score at 2-2,16 minutes earlier on his first penalty corner strike after San Jose had gone ahead on a goal by Sean Davis. Robin Thind had opened the scoring at the 17th minute mark for Khalsa but the always reliable Jon Ginolfi responded four minutes later to put the Bulldogs on board to even the score.
Earlier, Team Addidas HFS took 3rd place by blanking the LA Kings 2-0 on goals by Matthew Sarmento and Flynn Mcculloch.
Aki Kaeppeler was tournament’s top scorer for men with nine goals. He scored eight goals on penalty corners including a hattrick against LA in the semifinal.
The 2026 edition of one of the oldest and largest field hockey tournaments in the world, more popularly known as the Cal Cup, included 128 teams, consisting of over 1,500 athletes competing in 14 divisions ranging from Under-8 to Men/Women Super Divisions. The super divisions featured current and former international players from Argentina, Australia, Canada, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Spain and USA. Competition was held at Moorpark College and Arroyo Vista Community Park, from May 22 through May 25.
In addition to the $5,000 top prize in each Super Division, all players in the top three teams of each division received gold, silver, or bronze medals.
For all results visit www.calcup.com