5 Things to Know Before the NE10 Championship

Posted: Oct 24, 2023

The NE10 Field Hockey Championship begins Tuesday. Here are five things to know before quartefinal action kicks off.

5. History Says It's Anybody's Game
Since the NE10 began holding a field hockey championship, the regular season champion (or co-champion) has won 11 times. The most recent double-champ was Saint Anselm in 2019, but before that you have to scroll to 2013, and LIU Post, to find another.

Bentley is the most dominant champion in NE10 history, having claimed the league's first four regular seasons and seven championships. Bentley last won, however, in 2009. Only Assumption and Saint Anselm - of current NE10 membership - also boast a championship trophy in their history.

As for who is capable of winning? Well, almost any seed. The lowest seeded team, of eight, to win the tournament was No. 6 Adelphi in 2021.

Finally, the last five NE10 Championships have been won by five different teams: Adelphi, Assumption, Saint Anselm, Merrimack and LIU Post.

4. The Hot Hand
Assumption claimed the NE10 regular season title, finishing off a near-unbeaten 12-1 conference campaign. The Hounds were a shootout loss away from an unbeaten year and what would have been the NE10's first since 2021 (Assumption, 14-0) and 2018 (Pace, 13-0).

Assumption's loss to Saint Anselm Saturday snapped a 12-game winning streak. The Greyhounds had last suffered a loss to Bentley on September 14th in a non-conference game. Assumption began the season 1-4, with losses to the top three teams in the country, before outscoring opponents 43-5 the rest of the way.

3. All the Dietz
Pace forward Krista Dietz posted an all-conference offensive season for fourth-seeded Pace. A Player of the Year honor is not out of the question and would be a first for a Setter. The last Player of the Year to also claim a team title was Stonehill's Erika Kelly in 2015.

Dietz led the NE10 in goals this year for the second time in her career and becomes the seventh player in conference history to lead the way in goals multiple times, the first since Stonehill's Kacie Smith in 2018.

Catch Dietz's appearance on NE10 NOW: The Podcast HERE.

2. Shot Stoppers
While Dietz has stolen a lot of offensive headlines, the NE10's been a goalie-led league in 2023. American International, Bentley and Franklin Pierce finished the regular season ranked in the top five nationally in save percentage. Individually, nobody in D2 stopped a higher percentage of shots thrown her way than Bentley's Mia Trottie.

When the goalie needed help, the NE10 was also there. Mercy, Molloy and Saint Michael's ended the regular season ranked second, third and fourth nationally in defensive saves. Mercy's Victoria Devlin finished second in the country with 11 defensive saves.

1. Don't Leave Your Seat
The NE10 Championship has been contested 26 times. In 18 finals the league saw a one-goal game, including three of the last four years and four times the NE10 title game has been decided in overtime.

The 1996 NE10 Championship debut came down to a penalty stroke shootout with Bentley advancing past Saint Michael's, 2-1.

ABOUT THE NE10
The NE10 is an association of 12 diverse institutions serving student-athletes across 24 NCAA Division II sports. Together we build brilliant futures by embracing the journey of every student-athlete.

Each year, 4,500 of those student-athletes compete in conference championships in 24 sports, making the NE10 the largest DII conference in the country in terms of sport sponsorship. Leading the way in the classroom, on the field and within the community, the NE10 is proud of its comprehensive program and the experience it provides student-athletes.

2023 NE10 FIELD HOCKEY STANDINGS

	Conference				Overall
-	GP	W-L	PCT	GP	W-L	PCT
Assumption	13	12-1	0.923	23	16-7	0.696
Saint Anselm	13	11-2	0.846	22	18-4	0.818
Bentley	13	10-3	0.769	19	12-7	0.632
Pace	13	9-4	0.692	21	13-8	0.619
So. New Hampshire	13	9-4	0.692	18	10-8	0.556
Adelphi	13	8-5	0.615	19	10-9	0.526
Mercy	13	7-6	0.538	18	8-10	0.444
Franklin Pierce	13	5-8	0.385	17	6-11	0.353
New Haven	13	5-8	0.385	18	5-13	0.278
American Int'l	13	4-9	0.308	17	7-10	0.412
So. Connecticut	13	4-9	0.308	17	5-12	0.294
St. Thomas Aquinas	13	4-9	0.308	18	4-14	0.222
Saint Michael's	13	3-10	0.231	18	3-15	0.167
Molloy	13	0-13	0.000	15	0-15	0.000