Louisville Field Hockey making an impact in ACC -- Tuesday Cardinal Couple

Welcome to ACC Field Hockey? Glad to Be Here.

We've talked plenty over the past year or two about the implications of UofL moving the ACC and regular readers will know the spiel by now...a step up in basically every sport...especially Field Hockey and Lacrosse, sports for which the ACC is at least arguably the power conference of the country...greater prestige and recruitment points for coaches...we've said it all before, and its no less true for the repeating of it.

Let's go back to that Field Hockey bit, though...

Yes, the ACC is one of the best, if not the best, Field Hockey conferences in the country.  That statement stands strong.  Many UofL fans, and number myself among those, expected Field Hockey to take a few years of lumps in the ACC while they got up to the level of the rest of the teams.  A few years of talking to recruits about being able to come to Louisville and still play ACC level Hockey.  A few years of watching our conference opponents and learning how the sport is played on another level.

Huh, would you look at that?  We're in second place in the conference, folks.  Our only conference loss thus far is to a very good Virginia team that hasn't lost in conference yet at all.  Looking at the RPI, we've got wins over #1 North Carolina, #6 Duke,  #16 Wake Forest, #19 Michigan.  A loss to #3 Virginia on their home field won't hurt us much, and the only loss that can really be said to sting much in RPI terms is the loss to middle-of-the-pack Liberty...also on their home field.  That's not a bad resume for making the NCAA tourney.  Still on the schedule...think, chances to improve that resume'...#13 Boston College (next home game), #17 Syracuse (this Saturday in Syracuse).  Indiana comes in at a decent #29, and Michigan State a bit better at #25.

We look even better in coaches-poll-land.  Duke is 4th instead of 6th.  Boston College shows up at 8th
instead of 13th and Syracuse takes that 13th slot instead of 17th.  Michigan shows up higher, at 15th instead of 19th, as well as Michigan State at 20th instead of 25th.  Indiana just dropped out of the coaches poll, so you have to figure they're still close to the Top 20 compared to that #29 of RPI.  Of course, with those boosts, we come in at 12th in the coaches poll, rather than the 14th the the RPI algorithms give us.

Oh, and in case, like me, you think these rankings are a little disappointing for how well this team has been playing...these numbers are all from last week's rankings (The ACC standing info is current).  Field Hockey rankings are updated on Tuesdays, so be on the lookout for new and improved numbers later today that take into account our wins over the weekend over Duke and Michigan.  Do you expect us to keep climbing?  I do.

I've learned quite a bit about Field Hockey over the past year or so, and I'm glad I have.  I've learned enough about the sport to feel like I can start critiquing play...if only a little.  And what I'm seeing is that this Cardinals Hockey team is good, very good, even.  Like most sports, I've been enjoying it more and more as I learn about it.

Come out to Trager and join the fun, and take the opportunity to watch what may turn out to be one of the most successful UofL sports teams of the year.  At the very least, they're setting a pretty high bar for Basketball and the spring sports to measure up to.

Field Hockey likes to break their team huddles by shouting the words "Why Not?" So far this season, you could also add the phrase "Why...YES!" to their accomplishments. Coach Sowry's Stick Cards have earned a spot in the premier dining room.

Update: The updated RPI and coach's poll has been released and, yes, UofL moved up, and moved up quite significantly.  The wins over then #6 Duke (now #11), and then #19 Michigan (now #14) helped move us up to #3 in the RPI.

Also a big move in the coach's poll, with the two big wins we moved up from 12th to 5th.

jmca

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