Posted: Aug 25, 2022

CCC Pre-Season Poll: Seahawks picked fifth in field hockey

Shannon Kennedy and the Seahawks are picked fifth in the CCC coaches' pre-season poll

BIDDEFORD, Maine – Endicott field hockey comes into the 2022 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) season riding a three-season CCC Tournament Championship streak. It will try to extend that run this year as the preseason favorite as voted on by the league's seven field hockey head coaches.

The Gulls earned 47 points and five first place votes in the CCC Field Hockey Preseason Coaches Poll, which was conducted last week.

Endicott captured its third-consecutive CCC Tournament title last year on the road, defeating top-seeded University of New England, 1-0 in double-overtime. The defending champions then picked up a victory over Vassar in the first round of the NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championship, before falling to eventual NCAA Champion, Middlebury, in the second round.

UNE will be looking to return to the top of the conference this year, after putting together a 6-0 CCC (11-7 overall) season in 2021 before dropping the championship decision to its long-time rival. The Nor'easters landed in the No. 2 spot in this year's poll with 44 points and the remaining two first place votes. UNE has made an appearance in the CCC Championship game in each of the past eight seasons.

Last year's CCC Tournament Semifinalists, Western New England and Roger Williams placed third and fourth, respectively, in this year's voting. They were separated by just a single point with the Golden Bears earning 30 and the Hawks claiming 29.

Salve Regina (22 points), Nichols (15), and Gordon (9) rounded out the poll in that order.

It's been nine years since Salve Regina did not have an individual in the conference's top five scoring list (2013) and, more often than not, the Seahawks featured the league's top goal scorer – Abigail Tepper (2015), Ashley Cody (2018, 2019), and Eliza Timms (2021). Timms' 18 goals last year led a trio of Seahawk seniors – Grace Parker (eight goals) and Hannah Bedrosian (five goals) – atop the team's scoring leaders. All have graduated with Timms earning the school's nomination as NCAA Woman of the Year.

Returning with single-digit point totals from last season include Shannon Kennedy (Royersford, Pa.) (2g, 2a, 6p), Ashley Lefebvre (Westford, Mass.) (2g, 1a, 5p), and Emily Frazier (Eastham, Mass.) (1g, 1a, 3p), all entering their third season and second with game experience.

Casey Febus (Souderton, Pa.) and Bryn Protheroe (Glastonbury, Conn.) both saw action in goal last season behind senior and minutes-leader Olivia Butler. Febus has two career shutouts – one in each of her two seasons – with the first coming as a freshman when she posted a 12-7 record for the Seahawks in 2019.

Jennifer Foster, in her 17th season as Seahawk head coach – behind only Gordon's Cory Ward (entering 23rd season) among CCC field hockey tenure, describes her group as quickly cohesive.

"Although a rather young team based on collegiate game experience," Foster shares, "we are encouraged by how well our new players are already gelling with our returners. We are in the mindset each day we will grow, and that experience will come with each game."

The Seahawks open their 2022 campaign at home against Wheaton. Salve Regina tipped the Lyons last year in Norton, Mass., in double-overtime, 3-2.