After sweeping a New Jersey road trip and pushing their overall record to 9-0, the Syracuse Orange field hockey team was rewarded with the No. 1 ranking in the latest Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I Coaches Poll, released on Tuesday.
The Orange had been ranked No. 2 for three straight weeks following its 1-0 overtime win over then-No. 2 North Carolina on Sept. 1, but head coach Ange Bradley's squad takes over the top spot from those same Tar Heels after knocking another top-three opponent from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 2-0 win at No. 3 Princeton on Sunday.
It is the Orange field hockey team's first No. 1 ranking since Oct. 14, 2008 when it reached the top spot for the first time in program history when it was 14-0 and the only undefeated team in the country. Syracuse finished that season 22-2 overall with a Final Four appearance.
The field hockey team joins the men's basketball and men's lacrosse programs as the only SU teams to be ranked No. 1 at some point since 2008.
Syracuse received 25 first-place votes in the poll and usurped No. 2 North Carolina, who received 22 first-place votes despite the fact that Syracuse beat the Tar Heels a few weeks back. Princeton, who the Orange beat this weekend, clocks in at No. 3.
Up next for the Orange, a weekend home double-header with Louisville on Saturday and Yale on Sunday.