Aug. 23, 2012

LANCASTER, PA – The Johns Hopkins field hockey team has been picked to finish fourth in the Centennial Conference in a preseason poll of the league’s coaches. The Blue Jays garnered 75 points to finish just three points shy of the Haverford Fords in third place. Franklin & Marshall, who finished atop the regular season standings in 2011, earned seven first-place votes (teams not permitted to vote for themselves) and a total of 97 points.

Franklin & Marshall just edged out eight-time defending champion Ursinus by four points for the top spot. The Bears received four first-place votes and a total of 93 points. Haverford is picked to finish third with 78 points, followed by Hopkins (75 points) and Washington College (66 points) to round out the top five.

Hopkins returns a pair of All-Centennial Conference selections from last year’s 10-8 (7-3 CC) team in seniors Maggie Phillips and Liane Tellier. Phillips led the Blue Jays in scoring a year ago with a career-high 14 goals despite moving to defense midway through the season. Tellier is the second leading returning scorer for Hopkins with nine goals and five assists to her credit for her career. Senior Elizabeth Peijnenburg will step into the starting role in the cage with a 1.28 career goals against average and a .769 save percentage.

Hopkins opens the season on the road, facing Centre College on Saturday, September 1 in Danville, KY. JHU will then face Rhodes on September 2 before its home opener on September 7 against Eastern Mennonite.

Preseason Coaches Poll
Team (1st place votes) 2011 Overall, CC Record Pts
1-Franklin & Marshall (7) 17-4, 10-0 97
2-Ursinus (4) 19-4, 9-1 93
3-Haverford 11-8, 6-4 78
4-Johns Hopkins 10-8, 7-3 75
5-Washington College 10-8, 6-4 66
6-Gettysburg 7-9, 5-5 48
7-Swarthmore 8-10, 5-5 47
8-Dickinson 5-12, 1-9 35
9-McDaniel 10-8, 4-6 33
10-Muhlenberg 5-12, 2-8 23
11-Bryn Mawr 2-14, 0-10 10