NCAC Release

CLEVELAND -- Coaches from around the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) picked the Allegheny College field hockey team to finish sixth in the conference this fall in their annual preseason poll.

The Gators were voted sixth in the NCAC for the second time in as many years. In the 2026 poll, Allegheny earned 61 total points, just 16 shy of a spot in the top five. The Gators outpaced Washington & Jefferson College (49) by 12 points and were 18 ahead of both John Carroll University and Oberlin College, who tied for eighth with 43 points.

Allegheny's sixth-place prediction matches the team's 2025 results. Last fall, the Blue and Gold were one of three teams in the NCAC tied for sixth place with a 3-6 conference record. The Gators ended the season on a positive note by collecting those three wins in their last four games, highlighted by a pair of double-overtime victories over Oberlin and the College of Wooster. Five of Allegheny's nine NCAC contests were ultimately decided in overtime in 2025.

With 115 points and six first-place votes, Denison University was voted the NCAC's preseason favorite. Ohio Wesleyan University and DePauw University followed with 111 points and 98 points, respectively. Last fall, the Big Red, Battling Bishops, and Tigers shared the NCAC regular-season title with identical 8-1 conference records.

The 2026 campaign begins on the blue turf at Robertson Athletic Complex on Tuesday, September 1, when the Gators host Keuka College at 4 p.m.