It was a year of history for the Michigan field hockey team.

It was a year that didn't get much notice outside of Ann Arbor.

It was 2001, and the Wolverines became the first women's team in school history to win an NCAA Championship.

THE FALL LEGEND

BREAKOUT WEEK DROP THE PUCK!: Believe it or not, it's that time of year to sharpen the skates. Preseason polls were released for men's and women's Division I ice hockey. For the men, defending champion Minnesota topped both the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com preseason polls after finishing with a 32-8-4 record last season. Defending women's national champion Minnesota-Duluth topped both polls as well, looking to become the first women's hockey team to win three consecutive NCAA titles. STREAKING TRYING TO BREAK THE WALL: Before getting a victory, the Louisville men's soccer team is just trying to score a goal. The Cardinals have been unable to get on the board in six games since their last victory, a 3-1 win over UNC-Asheville. But the losses haven't been blowouts as Louisville hasn't allowed more than two goals in those six games. The Cards travel to face East Carolina on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. GAME OF THE WEEK ON THE RUN: The Indiana State Invitational will host some of the top cross-country teams in the nation on Saturday at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center in Terre Haute. The race course hosts a 6,000-meter race for the women and an 8,000-meter race for the men. The 21-team men's field includes No. 6 Villanova and No. 13 Colorado Sate, while the 21-team women's field includes No. 6 Boston College, No. 14 Arkansas and No. 19 Villanova. THE NUMBER 10 That's the number of goals the top-ranked Stanford men's water polo team allowed in its loss to No. 7 Pepperdine on Saturday. The final score, 10-7, marked the Cardinal's first loss of the season after the Waves posted a 4-1 first-quarter lead. Stanford did bounce back by posting wins during the week over Loyola Marymount and Pacific as it heads into this weekend's NorCal Tournament.

They beat rival and field hockey powerhouse Maryland to reach the feat, and it's no surprise that the two are harbored atop the STX/NFHCA national poll with the Terrapins at No. 1 and the Wolverines second.

But is it such a given that Michigan can make it back?

Only two teams since 1981 have repeated as national champions -- Old Dominion (1982-84, 1990-92) and North Carolina (1995-97). But coach Marcia Pankratz's squad is pushing its way to a fourth straight NCAA Tournament berth.

A big reason for the Wolverines' success thus far has been a school-record nine-game homestand, which concludes with a big matchup against No. 5 Michigan State on Friday. The Wolverines (9-1, 1-0 Big Ten) are 8-0 during that stretch, and are unbeaten in 10 games at Phyllis Ocker Field since last season's NCAA Regional.

But the recent success isn't giving Pankratz reason to relax.

"We try to remember that it's fun, but there's always a team that wants to knock us off now," the coach said. "It's a different situation for us, so it's not easy to mentally prepare. But we try to keep the distractions to a minimum."

One of those distractions: how the Wolverines' national title has given the program and the sport a newfound rush of attention. In one season, Pankratz's "little world" of field hockey is now one of the toasts of Ann Arbor.

"It's helped us get some respect, where now more and more people are coming out to watch," Pankratz said. "They come out and they are like 'Where's this sport been?'

"But I think that since (Michigan) is such an ice hockey campus, people who come out already have some kind of understanding, and they can relate."

One constant this season for Michigan is the offensive punch from April Fronzoni and Molly Powers.

Fronzoni, a junior forward that Pankratz calls the best player in the country, has a team-high 10 goals so far in 2002, marking the third straight season she has recorded 10 or more goals. She's also just three away from matching her overall total (13) from last season's 21 games.

"She is unbelievably dangerous," Pankratz said. "She can single-handedly win a game for you."

A senior forward, Powers has scored nine goals in the Wolverines' last seven games. She also makes those goals count, leading the team with three game-winning goals. Powers also was named Big Ten offensive player of the week twice this season -- the most in the conference.

It's a conference that is one of the most competitive this season, with four of Michigan's six Big Ten opponents ranked within the Top 20 (Spartans, No. 6 Penn State, No. 13 Iowa and No. 20 Ohio State). Outside of the conference isn't easy either as the Wolverines finish out the regular season with games against fourth-ranked Old Dominion, No. 18 Virginia and No. 12 Duke.

"It's an incredibly difficult schedule and that's great," Pankratz said. "We want the challenge of playing the best out there because that's the only way we can really be prepared for the tournament."

And to have the chance at making a little more history.

Joy Russo is a staff editor at ESPN.com. She can be reached at joy.e.russo@espn3.com.