Six of the area's top nine ranked field hockey teams are bunched together in Class 4A of the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Administration's tournament field, announced yesterday.

The draw, which seeded the top four teams in each of four regions by records and then distributed the rest of the field at random, is strongest, as expected in the 4A East region, where No.1 South River, No. 2 Broadneck, No. 4 Severna Park and No. 7 Chesapeake, all of Anne Arundel County, occupy the top four seeds. In addition, No. 5 North Carroll is the top seed in the North region, while No.9 Westminster is the second seed, with Kenwood and C. Milton Wright taking the third and fourth seeds.

The North region of 3A, though not as glamorous as the 4A East, could be just as contentious with three teams ranked in the top 12, Catonsville, Towson and Fallston drawing the top three seeds, with last year's 2A champion Hereford, which lurks just outside the top 15, as the fourth seed. Centennial, Reservoir, Atholton and Long Reach are the top four seeds in the East.

No area team received a top seed in 2A, and in the South region, where a number of Howard County teams are bunched along with Southern of Anne Arundel, the top two seeds are occupied by Calvert County teams, Patuxent and Calvert. If the seeds hold, Mount Hebron, the third seed, could have a pair of long bus rides south to make the state semifinals. Lansdowne received a two seed in the 2A North, with Loch Raven drawing the third seed in the region and Eastern Tech receiving the fourth. In the West region, Winters Mill and Century earned the second and third seeds, respectively.

In 1A, Glenelg received the top seed in the West region and a bye all the way to the regional semifinals, where they'll await the winner of the Owings Mills-Catoctin quarterfinal. Because field hockey isn't played in Baltimore City, the 1A North region, where city teams would likely play, has just five teams. Harford Tech, the region's top seed, is through to the semifinals, where they will meet the Carver-Pikesville quarterfinal winner. Sparrows Point, the second seed in the region, and No.3 seed Joppatowne are already set to play each other in the regional semifinals.

First-round regional games will be played next Tuesday, with quarterfinal games scheduled for Oct. 25. The regional finals are scheduled for Nov.1, with the winners advancing to the state semifinals at Broadneck and South River on Nov. 5 and 7. The state championship matches will take place on Nov. 12 and 13 at Broadneck.