Lilly Fringer (IUP) and Elaina Fragassi (Shippensburg) helped lift their respective teams to pivotal victories this past week. Photos: IUP and Shippensburg athletic departments
Shippensburg field hockey knocked off No. 1 Kutztown last week, but the Golden Bears withstood the spook to reclaim the same spot in the latest National Field Hockey Coaches Association poll.
The Raiders handed Kutztown its first loss of the season with a 1-0 upset and climbed back to the second position after spending time at No. 3.
The game results reshaped the NFHCA Division II Week eight poll, published Oct. 27. The coaches poll doesn’t affect the teams selected to the NCAA Division II Field Hockey Championship.
Shippensburg and Kutztown are no strangers to delivering throws. And, this time, it was the Raiders who snapped Kutztown's 35-game regular-season winning streak, while Kutztown beat Shippensburg early in the season.
The Golden Bears entered the matchup 14-0.
An overview of the game: the Raiders struck early. Junior forward Elaina Fragassi, PSAC player of the week, scored the game's lone goal on a first-quarter penalty corner, with freshman Isabel Rios providing the assist.
Kutztown outshot Shippensburg 9-7, but each team put five shots on goal.
Goalkeeper Grace Meinke made five saves to secure the shutout and help the Raiders avenge last month's 1-0 loss to the Golden Bears.
IUP added another top-five upset, rallying past West Chester 3-1.
The Golden Rams scored first in the opening half, but IUP answered with three goals. Lilly Fringer got IUP on the board before Kasey Rieger and Grace McGeehan finished the comeback. IUP climbed one spot to No. 6, while West Chester slipped two places to No. 7.
Bloomsburg rallied for a 2-1 overtime win over Slippery Rock and moved one spot into the top five. Slippery Rock dropped one place to No. 9.
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 top 10 teams in the NFHCA Week Eight Division II coaches poll, listed from No. 10 to No. 1. Previous rankings are in parentheses:
10. Assumption, 10-4 (10)
9. Slippery Rock, 10-4 (8)
8. Saint Anselm, 11-3 (9)
7. West Chester, 8-6 (5)
6. Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 10-3 (7)
5. Bloomsburg, 11-3 (6)
4. Newberry, 13-1 (4)
3. East Stroudsburg, 13-2 (2)
2. Shippensburg, 11-2 (3)
1. Kutztown, 14-1 (1)
*Simmie Samra is a student-intern at Penn State University.
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