Pre-Season Poll out for Women's Lacrosse

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Salve Regina University has been voted to finish eighth in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC)  after a  women's lacrosse coaches' pre-season poll. Western New England was voted as the favorite to win the 2015 championship after receiving four first-place votes and a total of 75 points in the CCC pre-season poll.

Western New England University has been selected as the favorite to win the 2015 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women's lacrosse championship after receiving four first place votes and a total of 75 points in the CCC preseason coaches' poll. Endicott College placed second after receiving three first place votes and a total of 73 points. Roger Williams University claimed third with 62 points and one first place vote, while Gordon College (one first place vote) and the University of New England were tied for fourth after receiving 50 points to round out the top billing.

The Seahawks new head coach Bill Villareal brings over 30 years of lacrosse experience to the Seahawk women's program. Villareal, a retired U.S. Navy Commander, was first introduced to lacrosse in the early 1980s as a student at St. Mary's High School in Annapolis, Md. He is a former defenseman at the United States Naval Academy Preparatory School in Newport, R.I., and former defensemen at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. Villareal has spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach under Patrick Cooney for the Salve Regina men's lacrosse team and is confident that his transition from the men's game to the women's will be a smooth one. He inherits a five-win team from 2014 as Salve Regina won three of its first six games and carries a two-game win streak into 2015. The Seahawks, who ranked third in the league in caused turnovers (167), return 18 players including the league's third-leading shot-taker in Sarah Woods (East Lyme, Conn.) (118).