They worked hard to get to the 1980 Moscow Olympic games, so it was a blow to the U.S. women’s national field hockey team when the U.S. boycotted the games over the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, writes Isabella DiAmore for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Two members of the team with Delaware County connections remember the disappointment, but also how they persevered to compete in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and take home a Bronze.

“We worked hard. We stayed committed to the process, and we stayed committed to each other,” said Charlene Morett-Curtiss, a former student at Lansdowne Aldan High School, now Penn Wood.

Leading them was Vonnie Gros, who coached the national team from 1977 to 1984.

Gros also built the women’s field hockey program at West Chester University, where team member Karen Shelton, a Marple Newtown High School student, played.

“I just consider myself lucky,” said Shelton, now 66, “The Michelangelo of field hockey.”

Their Olympic experience influenced what was to come.

Shelton turned the Tar Heels into one of the nation’s best programs.

Morett-Curtiss became the longest-serving coach at Penn State.

Team member Regina Buggy became an athletic director at Episcopal Academy in Newtown Square.

Read more about the Olympic journey of these four athletes in The Philadelphia Inquirer.