Aug. 27, 2008
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The 2007 NCAA runner-up Penn State field hockey team will begin its 2008 campaign at No. 6 in the STX/NFHCA Division I Preseason Poll that was released Tuesday. It marks the third consecutive year the Nittany Lions will begin the season in the Top Ten.
Penn State received 451 points in the poll. National champion North Carolina was atop the poll with 687 points and 29 of the 35 first-place votes, while Maryland, which Penn State upset for a trip to the NCAA Final Four last year, is placed second with 633 points and four first-place votes. The Big Ten boasts four teams - No. 5 Iowa, No. 6 Penn State, No. 9 Michigan and No. 10 Michigan State - in the poll.
The Nittany Lions finished the 2007 season at 16-7 and finished one win short of a national title. Head coach Charlene Morett returns two All-Americans - Allison Scola (Hummelstown, Pa.) and Jen Long (Doylestown, Pa.) - Big Ten save leader Jen Beaumont (Chalfont, Pa.) from last year's team that lost a group of six seniors to graduation. Penn State faces a tough schedule as usual. It faces nine of the 20 teams in the preseason poll, including four of its first five non-conference games. The Nittany Lions will play all but two of the top 10 teams in the nation. The Nittany Lions begin its season Saturday at 1 p.m. against No. 8 Old Dominion on the campus of Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa. On Monday, Morett's squad has its home opener against No. 2 Maryland at 5 p.m. on the Field Hockey Field.
STX/NFHCA Preseason Poll (Aug. 26):
1. North Carolina; 2. Maryland; 3. Wake Forest; 4. Connecticut; 5. Iowa; 6. Penn State; 7. James Madison; 8. Old Dominion; 9. Michigan; 10. Michigan State; 11. Virginia; 12. Duke; 13. Boston College; 14. Boston University; 15. American; 16. Princeton; 17. Louisville; 18. Syracuse; 19. Albany; 20. Ohio