Field Hockey Ranked 8th In Latest National Poll
September 12, 2006 | Field Hockey
Sept. 12, 2006
Chestnut Hill, Mass.--The STX/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll released Tuesday morning ranked the Boston College field hockey team (5-1) eighth in the country, one spot up from its ninth-ranked placement last week. This is the program's highest ranking since the final poll of the 1998 season when it was also ranked eighth. Boston College's highest NFHCA ranking ever is sixth-place, also in 1998.
All six ACC teams are ranked in the top 10 with Maryland (6-0) and Wake Forest (7-0) tied for first-place garnering 738 points each. After third-ranked Old Dominion, ACC members North Carolina (6-0) and Duke (5-1) round out the top five teams. Virginia (4-1) also represents the ACC in the 10 spot.
Boston College moved up in the rankings after going 3-0 last week. Last Wednesday, the Eagles defeated #18 Northeastern, 5-2, at home. After shutting out Quinnipiac on Saturday in Hamden, Boston College returned to Newton to play a thriller against Hofstra and won, 2-1, when sophomore Bob Dirks hammered in the gamewinner on an overtime penalty stroke.
Individual Boston College players are also ranked high nationally. Junior Crystal Frates sits in the country's top 20 in both the points-per-game and goals-per-game categories. Sophomore goalkeeper Julia Berkowitz, who picked up her second shutout of the season last weekend, is ranked 18th in the nation in goals-against-average and 13th in save percentage.
The Eagles will face top-ranked and reigning national champion Maryland on Saturday in College Park, Md. at 1:00 p.m. They will remain in College Park to play Towson on Sunday at 11:00 a.m.
Institution / Points (first place votes in parentheses) 1. University of Maryland (6-0) / 738 (20) Tie Wake Forest University (7-0) / 738 (17) 3. Old Dominion University (5-1) / 667 4. University of North Carolina (6-0) / 639 (1) 5. Duke University (5-1) / 629 6. Ohio State University (4-0) / 522 7. Penn State University (4-2) / 495 8. Boston College (5-1) / 462 9. University of Connecticut (5-1) / 461 10. University of Virginia (4-1) / 392
