BROOKLYN, N.Y.— The LIU Brooklyn field hockey team was selected to finish sixth in the MAAC Preseason Coaches' poll announced by the league office on Tuesday. Junior Hailey Ballard was named to the Preseason All-MAAC team as a defender.

2017 MAAC Regular Season champs Monmouth claimed the top spot on the preseason poll with 33 points, followed by reigning MAAC Tournament champions Fairfield with 32 points. Both teams split the league's first-place votes. Bryant and Rider rounded out the top four followed by Sacred Heart and the Blackbirds.

Ballard was selected to the All-MAAC preseason team by the league's coaches. The junior started all 18 games a season ago, leading the Blackbirds and third in the conference with five defensive saves. Her defensive save total ranked eighth in the country a season ago and her 15 career defensive saves sits third among NCAA Division I active leaders heading into the 2018 season.

LIU reached the MAAC Tournament in year two as a program a season ago, recording four victories for reigning MAAC Coach of the Year, Kyle DeSandes-Moyer. The team returns 15 letterwinners, including nine starters to go along with six new players.

The Blackbirds open the 2018 season against Saint Louis University as part of the Colgate Classic on Friday, August 24.