PRINCETON, N.J. – Princeton was picked to defend its Ivy League title in the 2018 Ivy League Field Hockey Preseason Media Poll.
The Tigers, who have come away with the outright Ivy League title nine times in the past 10 season, earned 14-of-16 first-place votes to top the inaugural edition. Princeton edged Harvard, which is listed second with 112 points. Penn is predicted in the third spot rounded out by Columbia, Cornell, Yale, Dartmouth and Brown.
The 2018 Ivy League field hockey season kicks off Friday, August 31, with a full slate of non-conference action, including three games against Top-25 opponents. In 2017, The Ivy League went 9-8 against ranked opponents.
Entering the 2018 campaign ranked No. 10 in the Monto/NFHCA Division I Coaches Poll, Princeton will look to an experienced roster of six returning All-Ivy selections, including the 2017 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year Maddie Bacskai and the Rookie of the Year Juliaana Tornetta. Five of the six key returners were part of the 2016 team that advanced to the NCAA Final Four where the Tigers bowed out to eventual national champion Delaware and the 2017 run to the NCAA Quarterfinals.
The Crimson return its top four scorers from a season ago, including Longstreth/NFHCA All-American Bente van Vlijman and reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year Mimi Tarrant. The Crimson tallied the final two first-place after finishing 6-1 in League player a season ago. The Crimson is 15-1 in its last 16 Ancient Eight contests with its lone loss coming at the hands of then-No. 14 Princeton.
Penn sits third in the poll with 87 points. Despite losing Alexa Hoover, the all-time leading scorer in Quaker history, to graduation, Penn returns two All-Ivy selections from a season ago in Alexa Schneck and Paige Meily. The Quakers went 9-8 overall and tied for third place with Columbia in the Ivy League with a 4-3 mark.
The Lions, which posted its best Ivy League finish since 2014, ranks fourth with 75 points. Columbia is led by two All-Ivy honorees in senior Katie Dempsey and junior Jennifer Trieschman.
2018 Ivy League Field Hockey Preseason Poll
- Princeton (14) 126 points
- Harvard (2) 112 points
- Penn 87 points
- Columbia 75 points
- Cornell 71 points
- Yale 53 points
- Dartmouth 35 points
- Brown 20 points