The University of Varsity Blues field hockey team heads to New York this week (August 23-26) for a jam-packed pre-season schedule against top NCAA competition.

The Blues start their trip in Albany when they face the U of A Great Danes tonight at 6 p.m. Albany was recently announced as the second ranked team in the American East Conference preseason poll and has finished atop the regular season standings for the past two seasons.

U of T then travels to Ithaca to face the Cornell Big Red on Aug. 24. Cornell, who finished third in Ivy League competition in 2009, has seven starters returning and are sure to provide a tough match for the Blues.

The Colgate Raiders are in the midst of a rebuilding period and have a strong recruiting class that will help the program improve upon their 1-15 record in 2009. The Blue and White will face-off against the Raiders on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Hamilton, N.Y.

The Blues save the best for last when they end their trip in Syracuse on Thursday versus the defending Big East regular-season champion Orange. Syracuse has made two consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and was ranked second in the Big East preseason poll behind the defending champion Connecticut Huskies.

The Varsity Blues were 10-1-3 last season and went on to claim the OUA silver medal. Toronto faced off against Canada’s top teams and finished their 2009 campaign in fifth place at the CIS national championship.

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