The final National Field Hockey Coaches poll of the 2023 regular season was published Tuesday.
And, it’s really no surprise to see North Carolina, Northwestern and Duke at the top. Joining the poll in its final week is Old Dominion, which claimed its first-ever Big East Championship with a 3-1 win over Liberty.
North Caroline won its 26th ACC championship, while Northwestern went into double overtime before freshman Olive Bent-Cole scored the game-winner to claim the 1-0 Big Ten tournament victory.
Duke fell to North Carolina in the ACC championship, and Maryland to Northwestern. Both contests were packed with energy, strategy and suspense.
The NFHCA poll is a vote amongst college coaches and it’s sponsored by Penn Monto. It’s not the same thing as the NCAA Division I tournament.
Here are the Division I college field hockey programs who made the final NFHCA list:
20. UMass-Amherst, 13-7, no change
19. Cornell, 12-5, previous No. 17
18. Albany, 13-6, previous No. 19
17. Old Dominion, 14-5, previously unranked
16. Michigan, 9-8, no change
15. Penn State, 9-8, previous No. 14
14. Boston College, 11-7, previous No. 13
13. Saint Joseph’s, 16-4, previous No. 15
12. The Ohio State, 14-6, previous No. 11
11. Syracuse, 10-7, previous No. 12
10. Louisville, 14-6, no change
9. Harvard, 15-3, no change
8. Iowa, 13-5, previous No. 7
7. Liberty, 17-2, previous No. 6
6. Rutgers, 16-3, previous No. 5
5. Virginia, 12-6, previous No. 4
4. Maryland, 16-5, previous No. 8
3. Duke, 16-4, no change
2. Northwestern, 18-1, previous No. 1
1. North Carolina, 14-3, previous No. 2
Photo: North Carolina at St. Joe’s, (Bob Benscoter, October 2023)
