Latest headlines from Top Of The Circle Blog, covering sport, hockey, with clear attribution and direct links to the original publisher.
Yesterday’s scholastic field hockey game at the University of Maryland got me thinking about something. College Park is located in a county adjacent to Washington, D.C., called Prince George’s. It is a desert in amongst the flora and fauna of field hockey in the Free State. I was able to figure out that the last […]
Today, there was a field hockey doubleheader which featured the best of American varsity field hockey. The site was the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex at the University of Maryland, and it featured the No. 1 team in the TopOfTheCircle.com Top 10 (Agnes Irwin School) and the No. 1 team in the NFHCA Division I […]
VILLANOVA, Pa. — There was more anticipation than average when Villanova Academy of Notre Dame de Namur (Pa.), the No. 5 team in the TopOfTheCircle.com Top 10, was awarded a fifth-minute penalty corner in an interstate matchup against Summit Oak Knoll (N.J.). “This week, our huge focus was on corners,” said Notre Dame head coach […]
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: a scholastic field hockey player, residing only a few miles from the Spooky Nook Sports complex, is and is amongst the leaders in the country for goals scored. And her first name is Mackenzie. Well, almost. The player we’re talking about spells her first name Makenzie — one […]
Saturday, the WNBA Finals begin. It will see two teams which, if they win the seven-game series, will have their first WNBA title. In one corner is the Atlanta Dream, which had its struggles when it began play in the summer of 2008, losing 30 games that year. The team, however, recovered to be amongst […]
This morning, U.S. Soccer, the NWSL, and the United Soccer Leagues are set to announce a new single-elimination club competition, according to The Cutback. The Crest Cup will put National Women’s Soccer League teams in the same bracket as USL Super League sides for a tournament which will, according to The Cutback, feature a $1.5 […]
It’s been a rollercoaster of a scholastic field hockey season, one where good teams are playing games against their peers, and where you’re seeing an unusual number of interstate matches. Our Top 10 is led by four unbeaten and untied teams — Rosemont Agnes Irwin (Pa.), Emmaus (Pa.), Yorktown Tabb (Va.) and Palmyra (Pa.). But, […]
A lot of the narrative around sports leagues surrounds the number of teams in mid-season who have managed to remain undefeated, no matter whether they their wins are against strong teams or against weak ones. Today, this site joins this exercise, such as it is. At of the end of play last Sunday, there are […]
In the world of sports, the term “Americans Abroad” can be traced back to the soccer magazine Soccer America, which began publication 55 years ago. A critical part of the publication, especially since Paul Kennedy became its editor-in-chief in 1985, was to find out tidbits of information on how American soccer players were doing in […]
Wow. What it is about Summit Oak Knoll (N.J.) that they continuously find themselves part of the most dramatic, consequential field hockey games in the 21st Century? This afternoon in Chatham, N.J., the Royals threw everything at The Agnes Irwin School, the No. 1 team in the TopOfTheCircle.com Top 10. And I mean everything. The […]
Today’s field hockey calendar sees an unusual cluster of important games. Get your tea/coffee/energy drink. These should be some amazing matches: go and see one if you can: 10 a.m.: No. 2 Emmaus (Pa.) at Millersville Penn Manor (Pa.): This intersectional match sees our No. 2 team, and sitting PIAA Class AAA champion, traveling to […]
Today sees the opening day of competition in the Ring of Honor field hockey tournament in Virginia Beach. It is an event which dates back to 2017, and has its roots in the Sun Devil Invitational, which pitted a number of teams from other states against each other. This year, 17 teams from Maryland and […]
Hello, and welcome back to Statwatch, our look at the world of field hockey through the statistical prism. It is a prism which can yield light, although sometimes it can yield confusion. This especially has been the case during the Score-O Decade when individuals and teams set some monstrous offensive totals. But for this week, […]
Our peer Allison Keefe from The Field Hockey Analyst quoted a concerning statistic on a social media post yesterday. “Right now, we have a grass roots problem,” Keefe said. “Our high-school participation level has dropped below 50,000, which is very concerning.” Keefe is citing published figures from the National Federation of State High School Associations, […]
A few years ago, I was talking with several alumnae of a pretty good college women’s ice hockey team that played in the years before the NCAA started sanctioning the sport. At the time, the discussion was the fact that the talent pool had diluted when Hilary Knight and a number of top players decided […]
