Two Earn Preseason Honors, ‘Cuse Picked Third

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Two returning All-Americans for the Syracuse University field hockey team were named to the Preseason All-ACC Team, while the Orange were selected to finish third in the Preseason Coaches Poll. The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) announced its preseason honors Monday afternoon.

Syracuse, the only team in the ACC to reach the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals in each of the previous two seasons, begins a new era this weekend under the guidance of Lynn Farquhar in her first season with the Orange.

Four-time NFHCA All-American Charlotte de Vries and three-time NFHCA All-America pick Eefke van den Nieuwenhof, were each named to the Preseason All-ACC Team. Four ACC programs had two players named to the preseason list, while none had more than two.

The Orange picked up 32 points in the 2023 ACC Field Hockey Preseason Coaches Poll, slotting third behind defending national champion North Carolina, which garnered 45 points and four of the seven first-place nods, and Virginia, which collected 42 points and the three remaining first-place nods. Louisville (24), Boston College (22), Wake Forest (17) and Duke (14) rounded out the predicted order of finish.

De Vries spent the summer with the United States Women’s National Team, helping lead the US to a Hockey5s gold medal. She started in all 22 games last season, ranking second on the team in points (40), with 14 goals and a team-best 12 assists. The program’s only four-time All-American, de Vries enters the season with 99 career points, the sixth-most in program history. Her 40 career points are also the sixth-most by a single ‘Cuse player.

Van den Nieuwenhof was a Second Team All-ACC pick a year ago, playing in 17 games with 16 starts after battling back from an early-season injury. She finished third on the team in points with 25 with 10 goals and five assists. Van den Nieuwenhof scored at least one point in 11 of her 17 appearances last season, including a penalty stroke against No. 7 Princeton (Nov. 11) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Farquhar and the Orange kick off the 2023 season with back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday in Burlington, Vermont. Syracuse meets Sacred Heart at Moulton Winder Field on Saturday at 2 p.m., followed by a clash with host Vermont on Sunday at 1 p.m.

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