NCAA Tournament Field Announced

University of Maryland will host semifinals and final

Nov. 6, 2007

Courtesy of NCAAsports.com, North Carolina Athletics and Maryland Athletics

INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA Division I Field Hockey Committee announced today the field of 16 teams for the 2007 NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship. Five conferences were awarded automatic qualification. In addition, six conferences competed for three play-in berths and the remaining eight teams were selected at large.

The following conferences and their representatives received automatic qualification:

America East Conference Boston University
Atlantic Coast Conference University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Big East Conference University of Connecticut
Big Ten Conference University of Iowa
Colonial Athletic Association James Madison University

The teams winning the play-in berths were University of Massachusetts, Amherst from the Atlantic 10 Conference, Ohio University from the Mid-American Conference and Stanford University from the Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference.

No. 1-seed North Carolina

The North Carolina field hockey team will open NCAA Tournament play Saturday on its home turf with a first-round game against Stanford at Francis E. Henry Stadium. The 20-0 Tar Heels are the top seed in the 16-team tournament field, announced Tuesday evening.

UNC is 5-1 all-time against Stanford. The teams last met during the 2005 season, when the Tar Heels won 4-0 in a neutral-site game played in Winston-Salem, N.C. Carolina has hosted both of the other teams in the Chapel Hill bracket this season, beating James Madison 2-1 on Sept. 2 and Duke 5-0 on Sept. 22.

North Carolina is making its 24th appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Tar Heels have won four titles - in 1989, 1995, 1996 and 1997 - and reached the final four on eight other occasions.

UNC earned an automatic berth in the field with a 4-3 overtime win against Wake Forest Sunday in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game in Newton, Mass.

No. 2-seed Maryland

The second-ranked Maryland field hockey squad was awarded the second seed in the NCAA Tournament and will host the first and second rounds this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 10 and 11. The Terps play 10th-ranked Old Dominion in the first round with No. 9 Penn State and No. 18 Virginia following.

The Lady Monarchs won the Colonial Athletic Association regular-season title and enter the tournament with a 12-9 record overall. A traditional powerhouse, ODU lost to the Terps in the first two meetings of the season by the identical scores of 4-1. ODU leads the all-time series, 22-19-1, but Maryland has won the last five meetings and nine of the last 11.

UVA is making its 17th NCAA Tournament appearance and enters the postseason with an 11-9 record. Maryland has also claimed a win over UVA, winning the regular-season clash, 4-0, at home. The Terps last faced the Nittany Lions in last year's NCAA Tournament. Maryland came out victorious, 1-0, in the second round of the tournament. PSU enters the weekend with a 13-7 record.