University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Lead National And Conference Polls
August 23, 2016 | Field Hockey
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The North Carolina field hockey team will open the season ranked No. 1 in both the national and Atlantic Coast Conference preseason polls, announced Tuesday. Additionally, seniors Emma Bozek and Julia Young have been named to the Preseason All-ACC Team.
In the Division I Penn Monto/National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) preseason poll, UNC received 915 points and 16 first-place votes. Syracuse, the defending national champion, received 25 first-place votes but a total of 898 points and starts the year ranked No. 2. Connecticut, Duke and Virginia round out the top five, giving the ACC four of the top five teams in the poll.
For a look at the full poll, click here.
The conference's preseason poll also was announced Tuesday, with UNC claiming 34 total points and four first-place votes in balloting by the league's head coaches. Virginia was second with one first-place vote and 28 points. Syracuse is third, Duke fourth, Wake Forest fifth, Louisville sixth and Boston College seventh in the nation's most competitive conference.
Bozek, a midfielder from Cortlandt Manor, N.Y., and Young, a defender from Yorktown, Va., each earned the honor for the first time.
For the full ACC release and preseason All-ACC team, click here.
At the start of last season, Carolina was picked No. 1 in the conference preseason poll and No. 2 in the national poll. Both predictions proved accurate, as the Tar Heels won the ACC Championship and fell in the NCAA Championship to finish as the runner-up.
UNC opens the season Saturday at 2 p.m. against No. 10 Michigan in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, which will be hosted by Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Tar Heels continue play on Sunday against Iowa, also at Wake's Kentner Stadium at 2 p.m. For Carolina's complete schedule, click here.
