LOCK HAVEN, Pa. — The ESU field hockey team finds itself securely in the top half of the PSAC in the conference's preseason poll, which voted the Warriors fourth heading into 2026.
 
ESU finished the regular season as the second seed in the PSAC, going 16-2 entering the postseason. The Warriors opened 2025 with a seven-game winning streak, then nine straight games to earn a first-round bye in the conference tournament. ESU fell to Shippensburg, the eventual national champions, in the PSAC Semifinals, then to West Chester in the NCAA Tournament First Round to conclude its season. It was the Warriors' 10^th straight NCAA Tournament appearance and eighth season in a row of winning 16 or more games.
 
The sideline staff for ESU will look slightly different this year, but still familiar, as Katie Ord enters her first season as head coach. Following 20 total seasons with the program as a player, graduate assistant, volunteer coach, and assistant coach, she's joined by another former Warrior and All-American, Madison Kline, who assumes Ord's previous role. They'll lead a roster that returns its third-, fifth-, and sixth-leading goal scorers, Rylie McGrath, Elaiana Rivera-Lagalla, and Maddie Moline, while also bringing back Bella Viruet and Alex Eagles on the defensive end. In goal, both of ESU's goalkeepers from last year's tandem, Sydney Pope and Jet Vermeulen, are back after combining for a .728 SV% and a 1.26 goals-against average. Countering the loss of 14 departures from last season's roster, ESU brought in a recruiting class of 14 freshmen and two transfers. Alex Bandura, a junior from Old Dominion, and Reagan Kunkle, a senior from Ball State, both bring Division I experience to the roster.
 
The Warriors open the season with three straight home games, starting the season against St. Thomas Aquinas at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 3.
 

Rank	School (# of 1st Place Votes)
1	Kutztown (7)
2	Shippensburg (2)
3	West Chester (1)
4	East Stroudsburg
5	Bloomsburg
6	Millersville
7	Mansfield
8	Indiana (Pa.)
9	Frostburg State
10	Slippery Rock