Lock Haven, Pa. - Four-time defending national champion Bloomsburg has been chosen as the unanimous favorite to win the PSAC East while last year’s PSAC and NCAA regional runner-up Shippensburg has been tabbed the unanimous favorite to win the PSAC West in the PSAC field hockey preseason coaches’ poll. This marks the third straight year that the Huskies have been the favorite in the PSAC East while Shippensburg is the preseason favorite in the West for the first time as the PSAC enters the third year of divisional play in field hockey.
Although Bloomsburg will have a new head coach this year as former field hockey standout Nicole Rhoads takes over the legendary Jan Hutchinson, the preseason result is the same this year for the Huskies, as they are the unanimous favorite for the third straight year. The remainder of the East poll is nearly identical to last year’s final standings, with fellow NCAA Tournament participant East Stroudsburg in second, followed by Kutztown in third place, Millersville in fourth and C.W. Post in fifth. Millersville and C.W. Post tied for fourth place last year.
Shippensburg ends IUP’s two-year run as the preseason favorites in the PSAC West, as the Lady Raiders garnered all five first place votes. This marks the first time in the three-year history of the field hockey divisional preseason poll that a Western Division team has been picked to win unanimously, as IUP garnered four of five first place votes in each of the last two years. Mercyhurst, a PSAC Tournament participant last year after finishing in second place behind the Lady Raiders, is in the same spot in the preseason poll. The rest of the West poll is different from last year’s final standings as Mansfield, which finished in last place, is picked to finish third. IUP, which finished in a tie for second place with Mercyhurst last year, is picked to finish fourth, while Slippery Rock rounds out the poll in fifth after finishing fourth last year.
In addition to having a new head coach, Bloomsburg will need to replace four of its top six scorers from last year, including PSAC East Player of the Year, Chelsea Due, who departed along with assists leader Maggey Bloskey as well as Breanne Tobin and Erin Hench, all of whom were cornerstones of Bloomsburg’s last few national championship teams. However, the Huskies do return leading scorer Amanda Riley, who, as a sophomore last year, scored 27 goals and recorded 62 points to lead the entire PSAC in both categories. They also return All-PSAC midfielder Amanda Deloy and a pair of experienced defenders in Madison Schoch and Betsy Renn, which should help with the transition to a new goalkeeper, where sophomore Meghan Hollenbach and true freshman Megan Eppley will compete to replace Caitlin Koczynski.
Shippensburg will enter the season in similar condition as Bloomsburg in that it lost some of its top players from last year – two of their top three scorers in Laura Wylde and Jamie Doughty – but returns its top scorer in Kristina Taylor, the PSAC West Player of the Year who finished second to Bloomsburg’s Riley in goals in the PSAC last year with 24 and in points with 57. The Lady Raiders also return forward Amanda Strous (7g, 5a) but look to be a bit thin on experience on the back line as sophomore Ashley Taylor and senior Emily Fulton are the only returning starters on defense. There will be a new starting goalkeeper as well as junior Alyssa Stefanadis, sophomore Ciarra Delost and freshman Carenna Neely will battle to replace Amanda Houser, who has slid into an assistant coach’s role under veteran head coach Bertie Landes.
Listed below are the preseason PSAC field hockey coaches polls. First place votes are in parenthesis.
Eastern Division
1. Bloomsburg (5)
2. East Stroudsburg
3. Kutztown
4. Millersville
5. C.W. Post
Western Division
1. Shippensburg (5)
2. Mercyhurst
3. Mansfield
4. IUP
5. Slippery Rock