The Providence College field hockey team is ranked 17th in the STX/NFHCA Division I Preseason Coaches’ Poll that was released yesterday. The Friars are one of three Big East Conference teams in the top-20. The others are Connecticut, which is ranked fifth and Louisville, 14th. Maryland, the defending champions, leads the poll with 18 first-place votes. Rounding off the top four are three other Atlantic Coast Conference teams in Wake Forest, North Carolina and Duke, respectively. The Friars, who begin their season Sunday at New Hampshire, are scheduled to face six top-20 teams this season (UConn, Boston College, Iowa, Louisville, Princeton and Boston University).

--PC ATHLETICS