McDermott chairs 'other' tourney panel

Field hockey has always been a passion for Senior Associate Director of Athletics Erin McDermott. She played at the varsity level in high school and continued to follow field hockey closely while a basketball standout at Hofstra.

These days, though, McDermott may be closer to the sport than ever, serving her fourth year on the NCAA Division I Field Hockey Committee and her second as chair for the Mid-Atlantic region.

McDermott leads the other five members of the national committee in selecting the 16 teams that will qualify for the NCAA tournament in mid-November.

With one more regular-season game left before the selection conference, McDermott is excited to see if this year's field hockey squad will make the cut.

"I travel with the team each year they make the tournament," McDermott said, "and I watch their games rather religiously. Working [at Princeton], I enjoy watching field hockey at this high a level of play."

Qualifying for a slot in the bracket, however, is not a simple process. Throughout the season, McDermott and her colleagues hold conferences to rank the top 20 teams in the nation based on a synthesis of three factors: overall win-loss records, performance against common opponents and the strength of team schedules. This last criterion is determined using a performance index that McDermott helped to implement. Teams may receive points simply by earning the right to play elite opponents during the regular season. In the Tigers' case, this means that their loss to No. 1 Maryland earlier this month could still count in their favor going into the selection process.

For a sure spot in the playoffs though, as the Tigers have reminded each other all season long, Princeton must end its regular season as the Ivy League conference champion.

Automatic NCAA bids go to the eight teams ranked highest by the national committee. While the Tigers are unlikely to be among these top eight teams, they can hope to be among the final eight teams selected by the NCAA for winning their respective conferences.

Unfortunately for McDermott, her job is not quite this simple. While there are eight spots awarded to conference champions, there are 11 Division I field hockey conferences. McDermott's committee must therefore follow a supplementary procedure for selection. Five of the conference champions go directly to the playoffs based on the integrity of their conferences, which is determined by yet another performance index.

The remaining six champions compete in "play-in" matches to win the last three spots in the bracket. The Ivy League is not considered as competitive as other divisions, so each year the Ancient Eight champion faces off against the Atlantic-10 champion to compete for an NCAA tournament bid.

McDermott has seen enough field hockey on the national level to hazard some good guesses as to which Atlantic-10 team will make it to this year's game.

"I think Temple University looks pretty strong now," McDermott said. "They've played well, while [traditional powerhouse] University of Richmond has been inconsistent, but you can never rule out surprises. Both University of Massachusetts and St. Joseph's University have shown that they can win critical games."

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Perhaps the only thing longer than the road to the NCAA tournament was the road McDermott took to her current position as chair. In 2004, a friend on the NCAA field hockey committee recommended that McDermott get involved in the tournament process and nominated her for a position. The Ivy League received the nomination and chose to recommend her to the next level, the championship cabinet. The championship cabinet then elected McDermott to a four-year term in the committee where she was appointed chair at the beginning of last season.

McDermott loves contributing to the sport of field hockey and feels her position puts her in good company.

"The coaches and administrators [in the committees] are the best informed people in the country about the sport and know the teams the best," McDermott said. "All of them really love and respect field hockey and try to make the best decisions for the sport."

McDermott and her colleagues can only hope that their dedication will be enough to produce a tournament field that does their sport proud.