The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- October 11, 1999

Mixing it up

Regional realignment to prevent traditional field hockey rivals from meeting in the championship game

BY HEATHER YOST
STAFF WRITER

Traditionally, there have been few surprises in Division II field hockey, particularly when it comes to championship competition.

For seven straight years, it's been Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania vs. Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania in the championship game. The only question was which team would wear the crown.

Now, though, there have been two surprises in as many years. First, it was Kutztown University of Pennsylvania taking Lock Haven's traditional place in the 1997 championship game against Bloomsburg. The Bloomsburg victory, however, retained some consistency.

In 1999, there will be another change. The realignment of the Division II field hockey regions has made another repeat of the old faithful rivalry impossible as the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) -- with which Bloomsburg, Lock Haven and Kutztown all are affiliated -- is in a single region for selection purposes.

Surprise!

"Field hockey had an exception to the regional policy, which automatically put all conference members in the same region for championship-selection purposes," said Sharon Taylor, athletics director and chair of the Division II Field Hockey Committee. "It made sense because of the limited numbers in Division II field hockey, the strength of the PSAC and the two programs involved."

In 1992, when the Division II Field Hockey Championship was re-established after an eight-year absence, the regions were split along geographic and numeric lines with 12 institutions in each of the North and South regions, which separated PSAC members Bloomsburg and East Stroudsburg in the North Region from the other six conference members in the South.

The Division II Championships Committee asked the field hockey committee to review the regional boundaries and make suggestions about the exception to the conference being separated for championship-selection regions.

"(The championships committee) asked us to take a look at our regions, which we did," Taylor said. "We surveyed the coaches, and they wanted us to move to a single region, which basically means we would select the best two teams regardless of conference or geographic considerations."

In July, the Division II Championships Committee turned down the committee's suggestion of a single-region championship selection and moved Bloomsburg and East Stroudsburg into the South region.

"We were operating under the basic philosophy of Division II regionalization," said Barbara J. Schroeder, chair of the Division II Championships Committee and athletics director at Regis University (Colorado). "We are trying to keep the conferences intact in one region and avoid giving any one conference a chance to advance two institutions in a championship. It is not sport-specific. We just need to clean up a few situations in a couple of sports to guarantee more fair access to our championships."

The field hockey committee had modeled its single-region proposal after Division II men's lacrosse, a championship with similar numbers. Now, the Division II Championships Committee also is reviewing the men's lacrosse regionalization format.

"(The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference) has been a huge supporter of Division II regionalization, but the cookie-cutter approach is not necessary," said PSAC Commissioner Stephen L. Murray. "Field hockey has 24 teams in a relatively small geographic area. I don't think the principles of regionalization needed to apply here."

In the upcoming championship, 10 teams from the North region will be considered for the championship game and 14 teams in the South region will vie for the other title-game berth.

"I think we had a unique situation, just like we have a unique sport," Bloomsburg head coach Jan Hutchinson said. "I believe it is best to allow the strongest teams to play for the title. We could have had that with the one region. I am not sure what will happen now."

Good of the sport

The remaining members of the North region, none of which have ever played for an NCAA title, relish the much-improved odds of making the championship, but most also are are quick to point out the other positives of spreading the wealth in postseason opportunities.

"This is the first year that my team has really come in with their sights set on the NCAA," said Kelly McGowan, head coach at Bentley College. "In the past, I think we were looking at the conference (championship) as our goal."

Bentley, for example, will be looking to travel to play PSAC schools every year rather than every other season to enhance its strength of schedule and head-to-head competition in hopes of making the tournament game.

"We used to only take the trip every other year," McGowan said. "Now we need to do it every year to improve our chances and play these teams. We feel like we have a chance now."

But Taylor said some PSAC members feel differently about the championship change.

"Any time you don't have a method by which to assure the strongest teams emerge to the championship, I'm not sure it is best for the game," Taylor said. "Perhaps in other sports the strongest teams did not advance (because they were in the same conference), but this does not solve that when you are looking at the good of field hockey and its championship."

The realignment will not necessarily encourage travel for Pennsylvania schools. Regional play in the South could suffice with a PSAC regular-season schedule, with the exception of independents Longwood College, Catawba College, Philadelphia University and Mercyhurst College.

"There are some pretty good teams in the North region, but we don't necessarily need to make the trips to face Massachusetts-Lowell, Assumption and Bentley anymore," Hutchinson said. "It was a long trip when they were in our region."

PSAC future

PSAC regular-season play used to determine the top three teams that would advance to the conference championship. Now, each game will weigh even more heavily, and the future of the conference is being scrutinized.

While programs like Bentley are looking toward a potential first appearance in the Division II championship, PSAC members are trying to focus on the future, which no longer seems as well-defined as a Bloomsburg vs. Lock Haven title match-up.

The readjustment of regions has left the conference's field hockey coaches -- faced now with only one tournament bid -- considering the option of Division I membership.

"With only one team emerging in the Division II championship, it is worth our consideration to have only one team emerge in the Division I championship," Hutchinson said.

Several members believe the quality of the conference could garner a Division I automatic qualifier or, at worst, a play-in to the recently expanded 16-team Division I field.

"I think it could help recruiting tremendously," Hutchinson said. "People have it in their heads that Division I is for strong players, Division II is for average players and Division III is weaker. We are a strong conference and could prove it at the Division I level."

Although some members are opposed to multiclassification, eight PSAC schools have Division I wrestling, and West Chester plays Division I field hockey in the Atlantic-10 conference.

"With the number of Division I field hockey programs in the state and region, it wouldn't be difficult to fill a schedule with quality competition without much more spending," Murray said.

For now, though, the idea is being weighed by PSAC coaches with no time line or push for a decision.

The rivalry

So what about the "national" rivalry between Lock Haven and Bloomsburg? Though it may not exist for the time being, the match-up figures to live on as a clash of state, conference and perennial-power foes.

In an average season, the two teams would face off three times, first in a regular-season conference clash, second typically for the conference championship and third for the national crown.

"Obviously, when those two teams play there is a great deal of excitement; both schools and all the players have a lot of pride at stake," Murray said. "The championship has the same intensity for Division II field hockey as it would in Division I basketball, but the history just adds to it."

The rivalry, which will now be only the clash of conference foes, has also demonstrated the adage that it is difficult to beat a good team three times. Bloomsburg has won five of nine national championship games. The squads have split 10 PSAC championship games, and Lock Haven boasts a 6-5 series record in overall conference tournament meetings and a 21-16-3 record in head-to-head competition.

It should be no surprise, though, that Bloomsburg will be out to even the all-time record when facing Lock Haven this season. It also should not be a surprise that Lock Haven has no intentions of allowing Bloomsburg to win its fourth straight title, a feat not before accomplished in Division II field hockey.

At least some things will not change.