Posted: Feb 14, 2019

Coaches say Seahawks will finish fifth in CCC

Salve Regina was picked to finish fifth in the CCC according to a pre-season coaches' poll.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Two-time defending Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Women's Lacrosse Tournament Champion, Endicott, was once again picked to finish at the top of the league as it earned all nine first place votes in the 2019 CCC Preseason Coaches' Poll.

The nine first place votes give the Gulls an 81-point total in the voting that was conducted by the nine CCC women's lacrosse head coaches last week.

Endicott completed its second straight perfect conference season in 2018, compiling an 8-0 CCC (14-4 overall) record and earning the No. 1 seed in the CCC Tournament. The Gulls received a first round bye before flying by No. 4 seed Salve Regina, 20-3, for a rubber match meeting with No. 2 seed Roger Williams. Endicott won at tightly contested game and earned the league's NCAA automatic qualification.

In the national tournament, the Gulls matched up with No. 16 William Smith in the first round and fell 18-8.

Roger Williams lands in the No. 2 spot in the preseason poll with 72 points. The Hawks only conference loss last season was to the undefeated Gulls as they compiled a 7-1 CCC (13-4 overall) record. They defeated the sixth-seeded University of New England, 18-6, before meeting Endicott in the championship.

UNE earns the third spot in this year's rankings with 53 points. The Nor'easters went 4-4 in conference (8-9 overall) last year and entered the CCC Tournament as the No. 6 seed, earning an upset victory over No. 3 seed Western New England for a spot in the semifinals. The Golden Bears are fourth in this year's poll with 50 points. Salve Regina rounds out the top five with 48 points.

Gordon (45 points), Curry (22), Wentworth (20), and Nichols (14) land in the final four spots in the poll in that order.

Head coach Bill Villareal enters his fifth season at the helm of the Seahawks. The Seahawks have made the postseason in three of Villareal's first four seasons. The Seahawks will have two returning All-CCC players from last year's squad, Gabrielle Majenski (Hanson, Mass.) and the team's leading scorer Maddie Villareal (Portsmouth, R.I.). The Seahawks return seven of their top eight scorers from last year. Lindsey Smith(North Attleboro, Mass.), Kerri Beland (Attleboro, Mass.), Villareal, Majenski, Kiley Anderson (East Greenwich, R.I.) captain this year's team that will look to build upon their run to the CCC Semifinals, the first since 2003, and just the third time in program history that they reached that point in the postseason.

The CCC women's lacrosse season gets underway on Saturday, Feb. 23 with a pair of non-conference games. The conference schedule kicks off a month later on Saturday, March 23. The first full conference play date is Saturday, March 23. Due to a change in the conference bylaws regarding the number of teams that qualify for conference tournaments, the top seven teams will qualify for this year's championship. The Tournament will begin with the quarterfinal round on Saturday, April 27, followed by the semifinals on Tuesday, April 30. The CCC Tournament Championship will take place on Friday, May 3. The CCC Tournament Champion will earn the conference's automatic qualifier in to the 2019 NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Championship.

Click HERE to view the whole 2019 CCC women's lacrosse schedule.