Boston College Athletics
Field Hockey Picked 11th in STX/NFHCA Preseason Poll
August 22, 2006 | Field Hockey
Aug. 22, 2006
Boston, Mass. - The 2006 STX/NFHCA Division I Preseason Poll released yesterday ranked the Boston College field hockey team eleventh in the country. The Atlantic Coast Conference teams occupy four of the top five spots and all six conference teams sit among the top 20.
The defending national champion University of Maryland received 35 first place votes and enters the season with a first place ranking. Fellow ACC teams Wake Forest and Duke follow ranked second and third with five and two first place votes respectively. The Eagles fell to each of these teams in the regular season. Powerhouses Old Dominion and North Carolina round out the top five.
Four of Boston College's 2006 non-conference opponents are ranked in the preseason poll, led by Big East foe University of Connecticut ranked at ninth. The others are Northeastern (13), Ohio State (15) who Boston College will face this Saturday in the season-opener, and cross-town rival Boston University (17). Virginia, the final ACC team, tied the University of Richmond at 19.
Boston College finished last season ranked 13 with a 13-7 overall record. Despite a 1-4 conference record, the Eagles received their third straight NCAA postseason tournament bid. Two of the team's leading scorers from last year, junior Crystal Frates and sophomore Bob Dirks, return to the lineup for 2006.
The Boston College field hockey team will open up its season against Ohio State on Saturday, August 26 at noon on the Newton Campus Turf field.
