Maryland reclaims No. 1 in the Week 10 NFHCA poll. Photo: Maryland Athletics
Penn State knocked off the nation’s No. 1 team, North Carolina won its rivalry showdown with Duke, and Rutgers continued its late-season climb in the final week of the NCAA Division I regular-season.
With conference tournaments starting, Maryland reclaimed No. 1 in the Week 10 National Field Hockey Coaches Association poll. Northwestern bumps down one spot to No. 2.
Rounding out the top five, Connecticut remained third, while Harvard edged Massachusetts for fourth.
Wake Forest moved up to No. 6, and North Carolina climbed three places to No. 7.
Rutgers made the biggest jump within the Top 20, rising four spots to No. 14; Penn State advanced two places to No. 12. Drexel entered at No. 20, replacing California.
Penn State earned the up arrow after defeating Northwestern 2-1 on Oct. 30. Aby Deverka made seven crucial saves to shut out the Wildcats in Happy Valley. She helped deliver the week’s highest-ranked upset.
North Carolina’s Ryleigh Heck scored both Tar Heels goals against Duke to win 2-1 on Oct. 30. Heck’s goals were unassisted.
North Carolina improved to 11-6 and finished tied with Duke and Wake Forest for the ACC regular-season championship, earning the tournament’s top seed through a tiebreaker.
Rutger’s Sophie Kuiper scored a goal and earned an assist as to help erase an early deficit against Indiana in Piscataway. Kuiper equalized off an assist from Olivia Stazi, then set up Laura Loycke’s 2-1 winner.
Emily Nicholls made six saves, four in the fourth quarter, as the Scarlet Knights prevailed despite being outshot 10-6 and earning no penalty corners.
Rutgers closed the regular season 11-7 with six wins in its last seven games.
Boston College came to play against Syracuse. Alex De Cain assisted on the Eagles’ first two goals, finding Laila Rosenquest for the opening score and Klara Mueffelmann for the second.
Caroline Chisholm added a third just 39 seconds into the fourth quarter. Boston College limited Syracuse to five shots and two on goal, with Charlotte Kramer making one save.
The unranked Eagles finished the regular season 8-9, while Syracuse slipped three places to No. 16 in the new poll.
According to the NFHCA, “the poll is intended to provide a weekly snapshot of the nation’s top-performing programs based on results, strength of competition, and insight from the sport’s coaching community. Beginning after the second week of regular-season competition, teams must maintain a .500 record or better to be eligible for ranking consideration.
“These rankings reflect the collective assessment of the designated voting coaches each week and are designed to spotlight performance on a national scale. The Coaches Polls are independent of the NCAA Championship selection process and are not intended to predict or determine postseason qualification or seeding.”
Here are the DI college field hockey teams with the most votes in the NFHCA week 10 coaches poll:
20. Drexel, 15-2 (Unranked)
19. Yale, 12-3 (20)
18. Virginia, 8-6 (19)
17. Indiana, 9-7 (15)
16. Syracuse, 9-6, (13)
15. Lafayette, 15-2 (15)
14. Rutgers, 11-7 (18)
13. Liberty, 12-5 (12)
12. Penn State, 12-5 (14)
11. Miami, 13-4 (11)
10. Iowa, 12-4 (9)
9. Princeton, 12-4 (8)
8. Duke, 12-4 (6)
7. North Carolina, 11-6 (10)
6. Wake Forest, 13-5, (7)
5. Massachusetts, 17-1 (4)
4. Harvard, 15-1 (5)
3. Connecticut, 14-1 (3)
2. Northwestern, 16-2 (1)
1. Maryland, 16-1 (2)
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