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Athletics
UMass Field Hockey Set for First Final Four Appearance Since 1992
The UMass field hockey team will face off against No. 2-seed Northwestern in the NCAA Final Four Friday at 3 p.m. ET on the University of Michigan’s Phyllis Ocker Field in Ann Arbor. The national semifinal matchup, the fifth in UMass program history, will be streamed on ESPN+ with links and live updates available on umassathletics.com and @UMassFH on Twitter. For those on or near campus, an official UMass Athletics watch party will take place at Amherst Public House, located at 40 University Dr.
The Minutewomen (17-5 overall, 7-0 A-10) earned their 27th overall NCAA Tournament bid on Selection Sunday, Nov. 10, marking their first national tournament appearance since 2016. Following a 2-1 win over No. 3-seed UConn on Nov. 15 and a 1-0 shutout over Harvard this past Sunday, head coach Barb Weinberg and the team received a festive send-off from UMass fans on Tuesday as they headed to Michigan.
Weinberg, in her eighth season at the helm of the Minutewomen, holds a career record of 97-56 (.628) and UMass has never finished outside of the top-4 in the A-10 standings during her tenure in Amherst.
Massachusetts recorded 10 shutouts this season, including five against A-10 competition. The Minutewomen finished the regular season undefeated in conference play for the first time since 2013, earning the team its first Atlantic 10 regular season championship since 2014 and the first for Weinberg.
UMass and Northwestern faced each other earlier this season – a 6-1 Wildcats victory – and Friday will mark the second ever matchup between the two programs in NCAA Tournament competition.
With a win on Friday, the Minutewomen would advance to the NCAA Championship game, taking on either No. 1-seed North Carolina or No. 3-seed Saint Joseph on Sunday, Nov. 24 in Ann Arbor. UMass has one previous appearance in the NCAA Field Hockey Championship Final, a 4-1 loss to UConn in the inaugural final in 1981.
Should UMass advance past Northwestern, further information on their championship opponent and television and streaming broadcasts will be available on umassathletics.com and @UMassFH on Twitter.