Coming off their recent Northeast-10 Championship, the Bentley University Falcons received the top seed in the North Region in the upcoming NCAA Division II field hockey championship which was announced early Monday evening by the Division II Field Hockey Committee. The University of Massachusetts Lowell earned the second seed, while Southern Connecticut State University was rewarded the third seed.

Bentley along with the South Region's number one ranked team, Bloomsburg University, will receive first-round byes in the six-team field. In the North region, Southern Connecticut will travel to the UMass Lowell for a first-round contest at 1 p.m. on Saturday, November 8. The winner will meet Bentley in a semifinal match-up. The other first-round contest includes Indiana University (Pa.) and Shippensburg University. The winner will advance to play Bloomsburg in the semifinals.

Semifinals will be played Friday, November 14, at 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., with the championship final Sunday, November 16, at 1 p.m. All games will be played at Bloomsburg University Sports Stadium on the campus of Bloomsburg in Bloomsburg, Pa.

Bentley (17-5) enters the NCAA Championships riding the momentum of a 16-game winning streak and their recent Northeast-10 Championship, the team's first since 2002.  The Falcons are led by a duo of All-Northeast-10 Second Team selections, juniors Nicole Murphy (Dedham, Mass.) and Courtney Bartlett (Brunswick, Maine).  Murphy and Bartlett have each scored 11 goals a pierce this season and are ranked ninth in the NE-10 in goals scored.  Junior  Alyssa Sliney (Brewster, Mass.) has helped the Bentley defense hold opponents to a conference best 22 goals per game.  Sliney, a Second Team All-Northeast-10 selection this season, has recorded a save percentage of .842 and eight shutouts in goal.  Both are tops in the Northeast-10.

UMass Lowell, seeded second in North Region, enter the NCAA Championships with an 18-4 overall record after claiming their third Northeast-10 Regular Season Championship in four years.  The River Hawks are led by the 2008 Northeast-10 Player of the Year Michelle Harrington (Rockport, Mass.).  Harrington ranks tops in the Northeast-10 with 17 assists.  UMass Lowell is also led by the conference's leading goal scorer, sophomore Sammy Macy (Tewksbury, Mass.) Macy, an All-Northeast-10 First Team selection, has 24 goals and has dished out seven assists thus far.  Junior Jaci Moulton (Baldwinville, Mass.) is second on the team in goals scored with 13, while Missy Seeley (E. Hampstead, N.H.), the 2008 NE-10 Defensive Player of the Year, has dished out 10 assists while scoring five.  Both were named to the All-Northeast-10 First Team this season.

Southern Connecticut received the third seed in this year's NCAA Division II Championship after advancing to the Northeast-10 Championship semifinals for the third time in school history.  The Owls are currently 13-9 and are led by All-Northeast-10 Second Team selection sophomore Sara Winterbottom (Burlington, Conn.).  Winterbottom is ranked third in the NE-10 in goals scored with 16.  Another All-Northeast-10 Second Team selection, Ann Berry (Belfast, Maine) is ranked among the conference leaders in scoring.  The sophomore currently has 10 goals and 11 assists for 31 points.  Senior Whitney Martin (Harwinton, Conn.) currently has 14 goals and eight assists this season.

Last season, Bentley and UMass Lowell faced off in the Division II semifinals with the River Hawks coming up victorious with a 2-1 overtime victory before advancing to the NCAA Division II National Championship game against Bloomsburg.

With 15 member institutions the Northeast-10 is the second largest NCAA Division II athletic conference in the nation. Its 23 championship sports provide athletic opportunities for over 5,500 student-athletes, the largest such program of any Division II conference.

- NE-10 -

Final Regional Rankings:

North Region
1. Bentley
2. UMass Lowell
3. Southern Connecticut
4. Stonehill
5. Saint Michael's

South Region
1. Bloomsburg
2. Indiana (Pa.)
3. Shippensburg
4. Kutztown
5. East Stroudsburg