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Liberty Field Hockey ranked 20th in preseason national poll

Chris Graham

LibertyThe Liberty field hockey team is listed as the 20th-ranked team in the country heading into the 2019 season. The National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) released its first Division I Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll on Tuesday afternoon.

The Lady Flames, who closed the 2018 campaign as the No. 15-ranked team in the country, have now begun the year as a nationally-ranked squad for a fourth straight year. The poll was expanded in 2017 to include 25 teams. This is Liberty’s best preseason ranking since the team opened the year at No. 13 in 2016.

This season, the Lady Flames will square off with six teams who appear in the 2019 preseason rankings, including: defending national champion No. 1 North Carolina (Oct. 20, away), No. 3 Duke (Nov. 3, home), No. 4 Connecticut (Oct. 26, home), No. 6 Harvard (Oct. 6, away), No. 10 Wake Forest (Sept. 22, away) and No. 11 Virginia (Oct. 28, away).

Liberty will open its 2019 campaign this Sunday at home against James Madison. The contest will begin at 1 p.m. at the Liberty Field Hockey Field and can be seen on ESPN+.

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Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, TikTok, BlueSky, or subscribe to Substack or his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].