Sept. 4, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State field hockey team has been named the No. 8 team in the country, the National Field Hockey Coaches Association announced on Tuesday. The Nittany Lions received 559 points and three first-place votes to move up from their ninth-ranked preseason position on the 2012 Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll.
The Lions are coming off of a 3-2 win over Lafayette and a 2-1 loss to No. 7 Connecticut (previously No. 6) from this past weekend. The squad currently sits at a 3-1 overall record after wins over No. 5 Old Dominion (previously No. 3) and No. 6 Virginia (previously No. 8) earlier in the season.
With the addition of No. 20 Michigan State, Penn State will play a total of 10 nationally ranked teams this year. No. 4 Princeton and No. 10 Iowa are the remaining top-10 opponents, with the Hawkeyes moving up from their No. 12 preseason ranking. Rounding out the top-20 teams, No. 11 Northwestern jumped nine spots from the 20th-ranked team, while No. 15 Michigan fell from their 10th-ranked position. No. 22 California and No. 23 Ohio State complete the Lions' competitive schedule, making Penn State the highest ranked Big Ten squad for the third consecutive week.
The University of North Carolina took over at No. 1, with Syracuse and Maryland following in second and third, respectively.
Senior Kelsey Amy (Sweet Valley, Pa.) currently leads Penn State with four goals and eight points, while junior Brittany Grzywacz (Collegeville, Pa.) follows with three goals and six points. Junior Lauren Purvis (Maple Glen, Pa.), junior Whitney Reddig (Lititz, Pa.), junior Ashtin Klingler (Selinsgrove, Pa.) and sophomore Casey Haegele (Warrington, Pa.) have each scored at least one goal so far this season, as well. Backstopping for the Lions is fifth-year senior Ayla Halus, who has played in all 280 minutes of game time and currently holds a 2.00 GAA with 18 saves.
The No. 8 Lions will host the No. 4 Princeton Tigers on Thursday, Sept. 6, for a 6:00 p.m. contest at the Penn State Field Hockey Complex. Penn State then travels to Temple for a 1:00 p.m. matchup on Saturday, Sept. 8, and finishes up the weekend with a home game against Cornell at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 9.
Check back at GoPSUSports.com for continued updates during the 2012 season. Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/PennStateFH and find us on Facebook at facebook.com/pennstatefieldhockey.