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 629
4. Princeton University 609 (7)
5. Duke University 579 (1)
6. University of Connecticut 565
7. Syracuse University 559
8. University of Virginia 539 (3)
9. Penn State University 501
10. University of Michigan 426
11. Stanford University 367
12. University of Iowa 347
13. Wake Forest University 293
14. Boston University 230
15. Ohio State University 216
16. University of California 209
17. Boston College 199
18. University of New Hampshire 198
19. University at Albany 171
20. Northwestern University 136
21. Northeastern University 122
22. University of Maine 113
23. University of Louisville 60
24. Drexel University 59
25. American University 58