Posted: Feb 20, 2020

Seahawks predicted to finish fifth according to coaches' poll

Maddie Villareal and the Seahawks have been picked to finish fifth in the CCC.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Roger Williams will look to return to championship form this year after having finished as the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Women's Lacrosse Tournament runner-up for the last three seasons. The Hawks will enter the 2020 campaign as the preseason favorite as determined by the 2020 CCC Preseason Coaches' Poll.

The Hawks, which have appeared in the previous six conference title games and captured the title in 2016, earned 78 points in this year's poll. Included in that total were six first place votes on the ballots cast by the nine women's lacrosse head coaches last week.

Endciott, three-time defending CCC Tournament Champions, landed in the No. 2 spot in this year's voting. They claimed 75 points and the remaining three first place votes.

Western New England and UNE, last year's CCC Semifinalists, were picked third and fourth, respectively, in this year's poll. The Golden Bears earned 58 points, while the Nor'easters captured 53. Salve Regina finished fifth in the voting with 41 points.

Head coach Bill Villareal enters his sixth season at the helm of the Seahawks women's lacrosse program. He will return two All-CCC performers from a season ago, Maddie Villareal (Portsmouth, R.I.) and Kaity Doherty (Portsmouth, R.I.), and five of his top seven scorers from a season ago. The Seahawks have made the postseason in four of the past five seasons, and will try to make it four trips in a row this season. Villareal and Doherty will be joined by Stepfanie Salisbury (Cranston, R.I.) and Gabrielle Majenski(Hanson, Mass.) as captains of the 2020 squad. "I'm very excited for the 2020 women's lacrosse season," said Villareal. "These student-athletes have worked extremely hard and have the experience to confidently lead this team through the 2020 season. These players are ready to get the 2020 season going!"

Curry (37 points) fell in the sixth spot this year with 37 points, while Gordon and Wentworth tied for seventh at 25 points apiece. Nichols rounded out this year's ledger with 13 points.

The CCC women's lacrosse season gets underway on Saturday, Feb. 22 with Gordon and WNE opening the year with separate non-conference matchups. League play will begin a month later on Saturday, March 21. The top seven teams in the conference standings at the end of the year will qualify of the 2020 CCC Women's Lacrosse Championship Tournament. Three quarterfinal games are scheduled for Saturday, April 25, followed by the semifinal round on Wednesday, April 29. The championship game will be played on Saturday, May 2 with the winner earning the CCC's automatic qualifier into the 2020 NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Tournament.

Click HERE to view the whole 2020 CCC women's lacrosse schedule.