Popper wins top Junior Player award at Indoor Pan American Cup

The accolades and awards just keep piling up for Germantown Academy field hockey star Sammy Popper.

Popper added to her already impressive resume by winning the top Junior Player award at the Indoor Pan American Cup in Georgetown, Guyana.

The U.S. Women's National Indoor Team, which featured Popper, went a perfect 6-0 in pool play and beat Argentina by a 2-1 margin in the championship game. The team received its first-ever bid to the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup, which will be held in Berlin, Germany from Feb. 7-11, 2018.

Popper led all players with eight goals.

"Sammy had a very good tournament," said Indoor USWNT head coach Jun Kentwell. "It's a tremendous honor for Sammy to receive the Junior Player of the tournament award. She has worked hard the last couple of months. I have seen a very positive improvement in her vision and play. This really showed in Guyana where she found very good positions from which to score and scored the most goals from open play in the tournament. She combined well with Annie McDonough, another talented young player from Unionville."

Also a member of the U.S. under-19 national team, Popper has a plethora of international experience. Before arriving at Germantown Academy, Popper traveled to Belgium as part of the U.S. under-17 national team when she was in eighth grade.

But the IPAC, which ran from Oct. 16 to 21, is a tournament that Popper will always remember.

"It was super exciting," said Popper. "That was my best experience playing abroad. The environment was great and there was so much energy."

Despite her youth, Popper was one of the leaders on the team.

"Sammy was one of four 16/17 year-old players on the team who played a major part in the team's success," said Kentwell. "They earned the trust of the older players through their consistency and composure."

Popper's mother, Maggie Grasso, and a handful of other parents made the trip to Guyana. Grasso was pleasantly surprised with how nice and welcoming the people were.

She described a story of how they met a local who had never watched field hockey in his life. He ended up going to the tournament and rooting for the team.

Another memorable event involved a group of U.S. servicemen stationed in Guyana that became fans of the team. They watched all the games and even bought the girls pizza after the championship game.

Grasso, who also played field hockey in high school, called the whole experience "once-in-a-lifetime."

"For me to have the opportunity to be there and not only watch Sammy's hard work pay off, but also the hard work of her teammates, was amazing," said Grasso. "The team dynamics were superb."

Popper has already put up some astonishing numbers at Germantown Academy. As a freshman in 2015, Popper scored 44 goals while shattering the school record of 26 goals in a spectacular rookie season. She followed that up with 56 goals in 2016, including a six-goal performance in the team's final game of the season against rival Penn Charter. Her sixth goal in that contest also marked her 100th career goal.

Popper, who has already verbally committed to play college field hockey at Princeton University, is having another solid season as the Patriots prepare for the PAISAA Tournament.