The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- March 1, 1999

Field hockey committee chooses AQs, play-in games

Using the rating-percentage index as its critieria, the Division I Field Hockey Committee has recommended that the Big East Conference, the Colonial Athletic Association and the Big Ten Conference receive automatic bids to the 1999 championship.

The committee made its selections during its February 8-11 meeting in Kansas City, Missouri.

The committee also determined that play-in games would pit the Ivy Group vs. the Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference, the Atlantic 10 Conference vs. America East, and the Patriot League vs. the Mid-American Conference.

These recommendations are based on the current 12-team bracket and will be forwarded to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet for consideration. The committee noted that the cabinet has approved expanding the bracket to 16 teams, but that the proposal has yet to be considered by the Management Council or Board of Directors.

The committee also reviewed its policy of watering artificial-turf fields for championship competition. The committee reaffirmed that the preferred playing surface for the Division I championship is a watered artificial turf. However, if the site chosen for any round of the tournament does not water the field during the regular season, the field will not be watered for championship play.

If a field is watered for the game, it should be watered for all practices (weather permitting). In selecting sites for the semifinals and final, the committee will give consideration to sites that water the field during the regular season.

Northeastern University will host the 1999 championship November 19-21. The committee continues to solicit bids for the 2000 and 2001 championships. The committee is urging those insitutions interested in hosting to contact Michelle Pond at the national office.

The committee also reviewed the selection and evaluation of umpires for the tournament. An umpire advisory committee will be used as a resource in the development of a pool of umpires, the selection process and evaluation at all rounds of the tournament.

In other actions, the committee reviewed rules changes that will be in effect for all three divisions for the 1999 season, including an increase from five to seven minutes between halves and a change in policy for disqualified and suspended players during overtime periods.

If overtime should occur and a player has been disqualified during regulation, the team must play one participant short during the reduced-player overtime.

Players who were suspended during regulation who have not completed the suspension time shall not be permitted to play in the reduced-player overtime until their suspension time has been served. The player's team will play shorthanded until the suspension is completed. If a player has not completed a suspension at the end of the second reduced-player overtime, she will not be eligible for penalty strokes.