University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels To Open Season At No. 1
August 26, 2008 | Field Hockey
Aug. 26, 2008
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The North Carolina field hockey team will begin the 2008 season the same place it ended 2007 - atop the Division I NFHCA National Coaches Poll. In voting by selected coaches who are members of the NFHCA (National Field Hockey Coaches Association), the defending NCAA Champions were voted No. 1 in the preseason poll. UNC received 29 first-place votes, ahead of No. 2 Maryland with four. Also receiving one vote each were No. 4 Connecticut and No. 5 Iowa.
Atlantic Coast Conference teams hold the poll's top three spots, with Wake Forest following UNC and Maryland. After Connecticut and Iowa come Penn State at No. 6, James Madison at No. 7, Old Dominion at No. 8, Michigan at No. 9 and Michigan State at No. 10.
All six ACC teams are in the top 13, with Virginia at No. 11, Duke No. 12 and Boston College No. 13.
Carolina will open the season this weekend, playing a pair of games against top-10 opponents. In Winston-Salem, N.C., as part of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, UNC takes on ninth-ranked Michigan on Saturday afternoon and fifth-ranked Iowa on Sunday.
The Tar Heels, 24-0 last season, will play 12 games this fall against teams ranked among the first 13 spots in the preseason poll. They'll play all but two teams ranked in the top 10, including home-and-home meetings with No. 3 Wake and No. 8 ODU.
The first in-season poll will be released on Sept. 9.
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
