ALISO VIEJO — Shirley Sumner was the only woman playing in a pickup ice hockey game Monday, but it was no big deal. Sumner, an Irvine police officer, had broken gender barriers before.

And she wasn't alone. Rachel Tilton, said to be one of the best female amateur ice hockey players in Orange County, was timekeeper at the Aliso Viejo Ice Palace on Sunday as she cheered for Sumner, who was playing goalie and giving as well as she got from the men trying to shoot the puck into the net behind her.

Today's match between the U.S. and Canadian women's hockey teams for the Olympic gold medal--the first time women have gone for the gold in hockey--will showcase the best and toughest female players in the world and focus attention on the sport's growing popularity among female athletes.

At ice rinks across Orange County, female hockey players are not the anomaly they were just a few years ago, when they were subjected to stares and taunts from male players and fans. But both Sumner, 32, and Tilton, 20, are quick to point out that there are still some men who do not like to share the ice with them.

"You do come across some guys who still think that it's a guy's sport only," said Tilton, who, like Sumner, plays in a coed league. "They try to push you around. I give it right back to them. But I've got to say that most of the guys I play with are supportive."

Tilton, a Mission Viejo resident and Trabuco Hills High School graduate who is also a right winger for the all-women Southern California Rays, has been playing hockey for four years. She also played for Team California, another women's team. Called "Roach" by some teammates, Tilton said she enjoys her role as "enforcer" on her women's team.

"I like to dig in the corner and try to set up plays," Tilton said. "Because of my build, the coach throws me in front of the net for tip ins or rebounds, because there aren't many girls who can move me."

Two weeks ago, the Rays won a tournament in Las Vegas, beating an Alaska team for the championship. Tilton described the Alaska club as "tough girls" who played, well, like hockey players.

"We were knocking heads pretty good. One of their girls cross-checked one of ours from behind, but the referee didn't see it," Tilton said. "My coach called me over and said, 'If you see her do it again, take her out.' That was a job for 'the enforcer.' "

Tilton said trash talking and foul language are commonplace on the ice.