EMU Rounds Out Top Three in Coaches Survey

SALEM, Va. --- Lynchburg College received five first place nods and 77 overall votes to narrowly edge Washington & Lee University in the 2007 ODAC Field Hockey Preseason Poll.  The Generals picked up the remaining four first place tallies and 75 overall votes in the annual coaches survey.  Eastern Mennonite University rounds out the top three with 61 votes.

Lynchburg made its way through the ODAC regular season with a perfect 8-0 record in 2006, but it took overtime for the Hornets to get past Eastern Mennonite and into the NCAA tournament.  Lynchburg fell victim to a goal five minutes into the second half of its first round contest against Elizabethtown College (Pa.), and lost to the Blue Jays, 1-0.

The Hornets return the league's top scorer in 2006 Rookie of the Year, Allie Weir.  Weir registered 65 tallies on 29 goals and seven assists.  Senior forward Samantha Howard adds a second top-flight scoring option after notching 34 points on 11 goals and 12 assists last season.  Combined with a strong defense that gave up only 1.29 goals per game, both players should help the Hornets maintain their conference-best 2.71 scoring margin, better than one goal per game higher than their closest ODAC foe.

A strong defense helped Washington & Lee to a 7-1 ODAC record last year as the Generals surrendered only 1.17 goals per game, tops in the conference.  They collected eight shutouts on the season, tied atop the fixtures with Eastern Mennonite.  The return of senior midfielder and 2006 ODAC Player of the Year, Kendall Korte, will go a long way to helping W&L move back to the top of the conference.  Korte notched 20 points on six goals and eight assists.  Also back in the mix is sophomore forward Sallie Armstrong, an All-ODAC first team selection a season ago after leading the blue and white with seven goals and 11 assists for 25 points.

Eastern Mennonite pushed Lynchburg to the edge before falling to the Hornets in overtime.  Players like first team All-ODAC defender, Kristina Landis, hope to send the Royals back to the title game.  Junior Meghan Hershey (10 goals, 3 assists) and sophomore Sarah Roth (10 goals, 2 assists) will lead the charge on the offensive side of the field.

The 2007 season gets underway on Friday, August 31.  This year's ODAC Championship is set for Saturday, November 3, at a site to be determined by the season's outcome.

Listed below is the entire ODAC Field Hockey Preseason Poll.  For more information on ODAC field hockey, visit www.odaconline.com or any of the competing schools sponsored websites.

2007 ODAC Field Hockey Preseason Poll
(#) Denotes first place votes