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LANCASTER, PA - Franklin & Marshall College is picked to finish sixth in the 2004 Centennial Conference (CC) field hockey championship race according to a poll of the Conference's head coaches. Johns Hopkins, which claimed its fourth CC title last year, is the preseason favorite to capture the championship again in 2004. The Blue Jays received six out of a possible 11 first-place votes (teams not permitted to vote for themselves) for 95 points in the annual preseason poll of coaches. Fourth-seeded Hopkins knocked off top-seeded Ursinus, 1-0, and then defeated Gettysburg, 4-3, in overtime to earn the Centennial title in 2003. JHU finished the season 7-3 in the Conference and 12-9 overall, and went 1-1 in the NCAA tournament, defeating Wesley, 5-1, then losing 4-0 to the College of New Jersey. Midfielder Meighan Roose, a first-team All-CC selection in 2002 and a second-team selection in 2003, looks to return Hopkins back to the Centennial and NCAA tournaments this season. Ursinus was the second pick of the coaches with three first-place votes and 80 points. The Bears were undefeated during regular season CC action at 10-0, but stumbled in the Conference semifinals to Hopkins. UC finished the season at 18-6 overall, defeating McDaniel (5-2), SUNY-Oneonta (4-3) and William Paterson (1-0) en route to an ECAC Mid-Atlantic title. Third place went to Gettysburg, who totaled 77 points and earned one first-place vote. Washington was fourth with 71 points and one first-place vote, while McDaniel and Franklin & Marshall followed in fifth and sixth place with 67 and 57 points, respectively. Washington forward Laura Scimeca led the CC last season in points per game (2.24) and looks to guide the Shorewomen to the Conference tournament in 2004. Dickinson (46), Muhlenberg (38), Swarthmore (34), Haverford (20) and Bryn Mawr (10) rounded out the poll. Leading the Diplomats in 2004 will be midfielder Elizabeth Onasch (Sr., Bowling Green, OH/Maumee Valley) and forward Eileen Keever (Jr., Prospect Park, PA/Interboro) who will serve as team captains. A 2002 and 2003 National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division III Academic Award recipient, the 2004 season will mark Onasch's second as a team captain after serving as a tri-captain last season. Keever tallied nine goals and four assists for 22 points last season to raise her career total to 13 goals and five assists for 31 points. Overall, she concluded the 2003 season ranked eighth in the Centennial Conference in goal scoring with 0.50 goals per contest. An All-Centennial Conference first team selection and a member of the September 8, October 20 and November 4 CC honor rolls, she finished second on the team in scoring. Versus Muhlenberg, she scored both Diplomats goals in the second half as F&M stunned the then #20 nationally ranked Mules 2-1. The 2004 season kicks off Wednesday, September 1, with six games: Dickinson at Elizabethtown; Catholic at Franklin & Marshall; Alvernia at Haverford; Mary Washington at Johns Hopkins; Notre Dame (Md.) at McDaniel; and Widener at Swarthmore. 2004 Centennial Conference Preseason Field Hockey Poll
1. Johns Hopkins (6) 95
2. Ursinus (3) 80
3. Gettysburg (1) 77
4. Washington (1) 71
5. McDaniel 67
6. Franklin & Marshall 57
7. Dickinson 46
8. Muhlenberg 38
9. Swarthmore 34
10. Haverford 20
11. Bryn Mawr 10
Head coaches polled
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