The Ohio Wesleyan field hockey team was established as the favorite to win the North Coast Athletic Conference championship in balloting by NCAC field hockey coaches in their 2023 preseason poll.
Ohio Wesleyan, which won the NCAC tournament in 2022, garnered 8 of the 11 first-place votes and compiled 115 points in the poll. DePauw, the defending conference champion, collected 2 first-place votes and finished second with 107 points, while Denison received the final first-place vote and finished third with 104 points. Kenyon finished fourth with 85 points, followed by Allegheny (78), Wittenberg (66), Washington & Jefferson (56), Wooster (49), Earlham and Transylvania (23), and Oberlin (20).
Ohio Wesleyan finished the 2022 regular season with a 7-1 NCAC record, won the conference tournament, and made a second-straight appearance in the NCAA tournament.
Head coach Brenda Semit returns 4 All-NCAC selections from a season ago, including her top-3 scorers, senior forward Allie Crawford, senior forward Emily Streeter and sophomore midfieder Emma Wright. Crawford, the defending NCAC Offensive Player of the Year, led the league in points (35) and goals (15), while tying for third in assists (5) a season ago; Streeter tied for third in the NCAC with 11 goals and 5 assists, and Wright netted 6 goals and tallied one assist last season.
All-NCAC goalkeeper Meg McCarthy, who logged over 1,000 minutes between the posts and finished 2022 as the NCAA leader (all divisions) in goals-against average (0.24), also returns. In 8 NCAC matchups, McCarthy made 10 saves and did not relinquish a single goal.
Ohio Wesleyan opens its season on Friday, Sept. 1, at Juniata.
OWU Sports Information contributed to this report.
