Virginia Ranked No. 8 in Preseason NFHCA Coaches Poll

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Aug. 21, 2012

CHARLOTTESVILLE –

The University of Virginia will start the 2012 season as a top-10 team, being voted into eighth place in the 2012 Penn Monto/ NFHCA Division I preseason coaches poll.

The Cavaliers garnered three first-place votes and had 539 points, putting them in eighth place by a vote of field hockey coaches across the nation. Defending national champion Maryland will begin the season with a No. 1 ranking, earning 815 points and 17 first-place votes. 2011 national runner-up North Carolina is second with 799 points and 15 first-place votes.

The Cavaliers will take on No. 9 Penn State in the first weekend of action, playing the Nittany Lions on the road on Sunday, Aug. 26.

The Cavaliers will play all five teams ranked in the preseason top-five during the 2012 regular season as well as facing Wake Forest (13), Boston University (14), Boston College (17), New Hampshire (18) and Northeastern (21).

The first regular-season poll will be released on Monday, Sept. 4.

2012 Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I Preseason Poll

Institution Points(first place votes in parentheses)1. University of Maryland 815 (17)2. University of North Carolina 799 (15)3. Old Dominion University 6294. Princeton University 609 (7)5. Duke University 579 (1)6. University of Connecticut 5657. Syracuse University 5598. University of Virginia 539 (3)9. Penn State University 50110. University of Michigan 42611. Stanford University 36712. University of Iowa 34713. Wake Forest University 29314. Boston University 23015. Ohio State University 21616. University of California 20917. Boston College 19918. University of New Hampshire 19819. University at Albany 17120. Northwestern University 13621. Northeastern University 12222. University of Maine 11323. University of Louisville 6024. Drexel University 5925. American University 58