2016 High School Preseason Rankings – Mid-Atlantic Region

MAX Field Hockey’s Regional Rankings for 2016 have been expanded from a Top 10 to a Top 20!  The Mid-Atlantic Region consists of all public and private schools in the states of Delaware, DC, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The top two teams in the Mid-Atlantic Region heading into the 2016 season hail from Virginia Beach.  Local rivals Frank W. Cox High School and First Colonial High School are two of the best programs out there (and they are located just 2 miles away from each other!).  The teams play for three championships each season- the Coastal Conference Tournament, the Group 6A South Tournament, and then the Group 6A State Tournament.  Any team is hard pressed to sweep those three and it will be no different in 2016.  We give Frank W. Cox the edge and #1 spot this year.  The Falcons return a lot of talent, including dynamic goal scorer Leah Crouse, MAX Field Hockey All-Region player Cassidy Atchison, Pheobe Large and Alexis Gingerich.  Julie Swain’s squad will be competing for their 19th state title in program history and they will most certainly have to go through First Colonial to get there.

First Colonial will be without one of the most decorated High School players to ever play, All-State, All-Group and All-Conference Player of the Year Haley Schleicher.  Schleicher became the first High School player ever to score 200 goals and add 200 assists.  They will also be without their defensive leader Marlee McClendon (now at Old Dominion).  But like most national powerhouse programs, the Patriots have lots of talent returning, including 1st team all-state forward Cameron Strickland (34 goals in 2015), Riley Taylor, and young talent that includes two MAX Field Hockey Top 50 sophomores in Reagan Bonniwell and Evelyn Murry.  The Cox/First Colonial match-up is one we always look forward to and we expect these two teams to stay atop the region and make some noise in the national rankings as well.

The next two teams in the rankings also hail from Virginia, but on the private school side.  #3 Trinity Episcopal School and #4 Norfolk Academy have really made a name for themselves over the last couple of seasons.  Trinity Episcopal was absolutely dominating last Fall behind seniors Annie Snead and Christie Van De Kamp (both now playing at William & Mary).  The closest game they had in the VISAA Division I Tournament was their 5-1 victory over Norfolk Academy in the final and their only loss of the season came at the hands of the Group 6A State Champions First Colonial High School.  Margie Snead will definitely be missing standouts Snead and Van De Kamp this season, but she has a lot of talent returning, including Ella Donahue, Aubrey Scott King and goalkeeper Erika Latta.

Yesterday, we made a pretty strong statement that Unionville High School in Pennsylvania has hands down the top junior class in High School field hockey.  Well, Norfolk Academy is pretty close behind them.  Riley Fulmer (UNC), Greer Gill (UVA), Elizabeth Heckard (Stanford), Liliana Clarkson (UPenn), and Halle Gill (Georgetown) make up an impressive NA junior class that will be battle tested this Fall.  Mary Werkheiser’s squad face #1 Frank W. Cox, #2 First Colonial, and #3 Trinity Episcopal (twice) during the regular season.  It’s a challenging road ahead for a very talented squad and we look forward to seeing how they deal with it.

#5 Archbishop Spalding High School of the IAAM A Conference is anticipated to have another dominant season in Maryland, but they will have to do so without 1st Team All-American Erin Shanahan (UVA).  Head coach Leslee Brady returns two of the top talents and scoring threats in the state in junior national team players Kyler Greenwalt and Margot Lawn.  The big question will be if the squad can come together and find a way to win the big games after so much was centered around Shanahan in the past.  The Cavaliers will face their greatest competition from the usual suspects in #7 Garrison Forest School and #9 McDonogh School.  These are three strong programs from the IAAM A Conference and they always produce great match-ups.

#6 Cape Henlopen High School (Delaware), #8 Westfield High School (Virginia) and #10 Severna Park High School (Maryland) also claim top 10 spots.  All three programs graduated a couple of their standout players (Cape Henlopen: Tess Berheimer/Erin Coverdae, Westfield: Sarah Horgan/GK Callie Rennyson, Severna Park (Lindsay Ladas/Eva Klaus), but boast strong rosters year after year and should be among the top contenders again.  Our highest ranked North Carolina squad is Charlotte Latin School.  The 2015 NCISAA State Champions return a ton of talent and four all-conference players in Camille Kane, Isabelle Sumichrast, Cecilia Monnin, and Corbett Foster.  They should be a force in the state and NCISAA.