VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.—Sophomore back
Molly Zimmerman (Landisburg, Pa.) will have the chance to showcase her skills on a national level at the Senior Nexus Championship (NXC), presented by Osaka Hockey, which will be held at the Virginia Beach Regional Training Center in Virginia Beach, Va. from July 18 to 20. Zimmerman was announced on Monday morning as one of the invitees to compete at the Senior NXC next month.
Zimmerman played in all 17 games for the Wildcats as a collegiate rookie last season and earned a starting spot on the team's back line early in the year. She started 12 of her appearances overall for a Villanova defense which allowed fewer than two goals per game and gave up just over five shots on goal per contest. Zimmerman was previously a first team all-state selection and a conference Player of the Year at West Perry (Pa.) High School during her scholastic career.
Playing on a national stage will be nothing new for Zimmerman when the Senior NXC gets underway. She previously competed at the Nexus Championships in 2022 and 2023 while a member of PA Revolution in Hummelstown, Pa. Zimmerman is the first active Villanova student-athlete to be chosen for the Senior Nexus Championship since
Meghan Mitchell in 2022.
The Senior NXC is held annually and features 145 elite collegiate and post-collegiate athletes. During the spring and early summer, athletes trialed and trained at one of the seven USA Field Hockey Senior Nexus Training Sites throughout the country for an opportunity to be selected to the Senior NXC. All athletes that were previously named to the U.S. U-18 Junior Women's National Team's White Team Roster and U.S. U-21 Women's National Team were also included within the selection.
A step along the Olympic Development Pathway Program, the Senior NXC serves as a selection opportunity for the 2025-26 U.S. U-21 Women's National Team Selection Camps, Junior USWNT Selections Camps, U.S. Women's National Development Squad and U.S. Women's National Team. The event will start with a team training session on Friday, July 18 with games starting on Saturday, July 19.
