New No. 1: Northwestern Overtake Maryland in the NFHCA Poll After a Perfect Week

The voters have spoken, and Northwestern are the new team to beat.

Tuesday’s NFHCA Division I poll puts Northwestern at No. 1, up from No. 2, after a week in which the Wildcats beat No. 1 Maryland 4-2 in Evanston and then clinched a share of the Big Ten title with a late 2-1 win at Rutgers. Maryland drop to No. 2 at 15-1, which feels about right: one bad fourth quarter against Northwestern, and a 1-0 bounce-back win over Indiana on Sunday, doesn’t erase a 14-game winning run, but it does cost you top spot.

Behind them, UConn sit third at 13-1, with UMass fourth at 16-1 and Harvard fifth at 14-1. The big movers are Penn State, up five places to No. 14, and that’s a warning for everyone else: the Nittany Lions host Northwestern on Friday in the regular-season finale, and they’ll fancy causing an upset on home turf.

Rutgers and Yale both enter the poll at No. 18 and No. 20 respectively. Rutgers earned it the hard way, pushing Northwestern all the way on Sunday and with goalkeeper Emily Nicholls named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. Yale’s arrival in the top 20 rounds out a poll that, with conference tournaments about to start, looks as open as it has all season.

In Division II, Kutztown stay No. 1 at 14-1, ahead of Shippensburg and East Stroudsburg. In Division III, Tufts remain unbeaten and No. 1 at 14-0, with Middlebury second and Christopher Newport third.

Polls don’t win games, of course. But for Northwestern, going into the postseason as the No. 1 team in the country, with the Big Ten already in the bag, is exactly where Tracey Fuchs’ side want to be. Everyone else is now chasing them.

Related links:
https://sportscursor.com/ncaa-seed-eight-teams-division-i-field-hockey-championship-2026/
https://sportscursor.com/big-ten-weekly-honours-bent-cole-nicholls-beach-26-october-2026/
https://sportscursor.com/weekly-honours-larripa-van-hellemont-clements-dirou-26-october-2026/