Field Hockey Earns Top Seed In Northeast-10 Championships, Regular Season Titleist Skyhawks To Take On Fourth-Seeded Saint Michael's In Semi-Final Play Saturday At W.B. Mason Stadium

November 2, 2006

South Easton, Mass. – Stonehill College will be the #1 seed in the 2006 Northeast-10 Conference Field Hockey Championship tournament. Stonehill (16-3, 14-2 NE-10) won its first ever Northeast-10 Regular Season championship edging out second seed Bentley College who finished second with a league record of 13-3 and 15-4 overall.

The six-team tournament field also includes third seed and 2005 NCAA Division II National Champions the River Hawks of The University of Massachusetts Lowell (15-4, 12-4 NE-10), fourth seed Saint Michael's College (11-7, 10-6 NE-10), fifth seed Bryant University (11-9, 9-7 NE-10) and sixth seed Merrimack College (9-7, 9-7 NE-10).

The tournament begins Wednesday, November 1 with #6 Merrimack visiting #3 UMass Lowell at 7:00 p.m. and #5 Bryant visiting #4 Saint Michael's at 1:30 p.m.

The NE-10 Final Four will take place at Stonehill on Saturday, November 4. The first semifinal will feature the winner of Bryant/Saint Michael's against the top seeded Skyhawks at 11:00 a.m. The winner of the Merrimack-UMass Lowell matchup will face #2 Bentley at 2:00 p.m.

The Northeast-10 Field Hockey Championship will take place on Sunday, November 5 at Stonehill at 12:00 p.m.

NOTES: Stonehill wins its first NE-10 Regular Season championship and has now reached its seventh postseason in program history and has advanced to the semifinals five times, including being declared Northeast-10 Co-Tournament Champions in 2005 with UMass Lowell. The Skyhawks have won nine straight conference games… Bentley, the third seed in the 2005 tournament, has claimed six regular season championships (1996-1999, 2001, 2004) and seven conference tournaments (1996-2002), including six title games via shutout. The Falcons have appeared in every Northeast-10 Tournament since the first field hockey conference tournament in 1996…UMass Lowell, the defending 2005 NCAA Division II National Champion and 2005 NE-10 Regular Season and Co-Tournament Champion, enters its fourth tournament in four years. The River Hawks' NE-10 postseason resume includes three championship titles coming in 2003, a 2-1 win over Bryant, and 2004, a 4-3 win over Bentley, as well as sharing the NE-10 Tournament title with the Skyhawks in 2005… Saint Michael's, like the Falcons, maintain perfect attendance in the league's postseason record book as the Purple Knights receive their tenth post season berth. In the 2005 tournament, the Purple Knights were the fifth seed…Merrimack claims this year's sixth seed for the third straight year and is in pursuit of its first postseason victory.