Sept. 13, 2000

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The first official National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) poll of the season was released on Sept. 12, with the reigning national champion Terrapins the unanimous No. 1 selection. The 4-0 Terps garnered all 25 first-place votes. Four of the five field hockey playing ACC schools were in the Top 10, with North Carolina (5-0) taking the No. 2 spot, Wake Forest (5-0) claiming No. 6 and Virginia (3-1) ranking No. 7. So far in the 2000 season, the Terps have dispatched No. 3 Old Dominion, 5-4 (2 ot) and No. 8 UConn, 9-1.

The No. 1 Terrapins take on local rival Towson today, Wednesday, at 4 p.m. at the Tigers' newly surfaced Minnegan Stadium. Maryland hosts No. 12 Massachusetts on Saturday at 1 p.m. and unranked Radford Sunday at 2 p.m. Georgetown will also be in College Park this weekend, meeting Radford on Saturday at 3 p.m. and UMass Sunday at noon as a part of a two-day field hockey event at the Artificial Turf Facility.

Below is a listing of the top 20 teams in the 2000 STX/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll, as voted upon by NFHCA member coaches, with records through September 10, 2000 and total points (first-place votes are in parentheses).

2000 STX/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll
Institution (record)	                Points

1.  University of Maryland (4-0)	500 (25)
2.  University of North Carolina (5-0)	462
3.  Old Dominion University (4-1)	452
4.  University of Michigan (5-1)	400
5.  Penn State University (3-2)	        379
6.  Wake Forest University (5-0)	375
7.  University of Virginia (3-1)	299
8.  University of Connecticut (4-1)	275
9.  James Madison University (4-1)	265
10. Northeastern University (3-1)	239
11. College of William & Mary (6-0)	228
12. University of Massachusetts (5-1)	224
13. Princeton University (1-0)	        185
14. Boston College (4-1)	        180
15. Ohio State University (4-2)	        137
16. Boston University (2-1)	         88
17. University of Louisville (3-2)	 83
18. Michigan State University (4-2)	 79
19. Drexel University (5-1)	         58
20. Syracuse University (4-1)	         55

Contact: Mark Fratto
301-314-7064 (phone)
301-314-9094 (fax)
fratto@wam.umd.edu