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Skyhawks Picked Sixth In National Poll
Skyhawks Picked Sixth In National Poll
Chandler, Ariz. - Stonehill will open the 2008 campaign ranked sixth in the STX/NFHCA Division II National Coaches Preseason Poll which was released on Tuesday.
The Skyhawks are tied with Northeast-10 rival Bentley grabbing 51 points apiece, while another NE-10 squad, UMass-Lowell (103), enters the season with the No. 2 ranking. Two-time defending national champion Bloomsburg, collected nine first-place votes and 115 points.
Indiana (Pa.), Shippensburg and Kutztown hold down the third, fourth and fifth spots ahead of Stonehill, while C.W. Post, East Stroudsburg and Mansfield round out the top ten.
The Skyhawks and East Stroudsburg will meet in the Stonehill season opener on Saturday, providing an early season top ten matchup for both squads.
In addition to the showdown with the Warriors, the Skyhawks will play both Bentley and UMass-Lowell twice - meaning more than 25 percent of their schedule will come against the preseason top ten.
Even with their daunting schedule, the Skyhawks were picked second in the Northeast-10 Preseason Coaches Poll released earlier this week thanks in large part to the return of senior All-America Kerri Sullivan (Goffstown, N.H.) and junior Northeast-10 All-Star Jackie Ladino (North Dartmouth, Mass.).
Sullivan, a first-team All-Conference selection a season ago, anchored a Stonehill defense that posted seven shutouts in 2007. Ladino, meanwhile, has 10 assists in each of her first two seasons and ranks fourth on the school's all-time list.















