2022 Northeast Conference Women's Lacrosse Preseason Coaches Poll          1. Mount St. Mary’s (7)          2. Wagner (1)          3. LIU          4. Bryant (1)          5. Sacred Heart          6. Saint Francis U          7. Merrimack          8. CCSU          9. Howard          First place votes in parentheses

Somerset, NJ -- After a historic comeback in the 2021 title game secured Mount St. Mary’s it's third Northeast Conference (NEC) women’s lacrosse championship, the Mountaineers are in no hurry to reliquish the crown.

League coaches named the Mount as the prohibitive preseason favorite, awarding the defending champs seven first place votes. Wagner, last year's runner-up, ranked second in the poll, collecting one first place vote. LIU and Bryant finished third and fourth, respectively, with the Bulldogs receiving the final first place pick. Sacred Heart, Saint Francis U, Merrimack, Central Connecticut and NEC newcomer Howard rounded out the preseason poll in that order.

Lauren Skellchock, who has won NEC Coach of the Year honors in each of the last three years, led Mount St. Mary's to its second straight NEC regular season title in 2021 with a perfect 11-0 mark. The Mount will welcome back several significant players from last season, including three veteran All-NEC performers: graduate students Beanie Colson (Westminister, MD/Manchester Valley), Alayna Pagnotta (Woodbine, MD/Glenelg) and Zoe Hurlburt (Bell Air, MD/Fallston). Last season, Colson was third in the league in draw controls, averaging 5.06 per game, and added 21 goals and nine assists. She earned a place in Mount folklore last spring when she scored the game-winning goal in the NEC title tilt with five seconds left in overtime to give the Mountaineers a 9-8 win over Wagner and cap a comeback from a four-goal deficit with 12 minutes to play in regulation. Colson, a midfielder, was also named to the All-NEC first feam and NEC All-Tournament team. Fellow middie Hurlburt was also selected as a first teamer after contributing 14 goals and finishing third in the NEC with 2.65 ground balls per game last season. Pagnotta, a second team All-NEC attacker and NEC All-Tournament honoree, found the net 43 times and ranked sixth in the conference in goals per game (2.53 gpg). Her four game-winners paced the circuit. 

Wagner has finished in the top-three in the NEC standings every year since 2014 and returns five NEC all-stars in pursuit of the program's fourth conference title, including grad student attacker Madeline Seims (Westbury, NY/W. Tresper Clarke), senior midfielder Kasey Dorney (Deer Park, NY/Deer Park) and junior attacker Megan Greco (Sound Beach, NY/Rocky Point), who combined for 102 goals last season.

The four-team, single-elimination NEC Women's Lacrosse Tournament will take place at the high seed on May 5 & 7.

About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 41st season, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of 10 institutions of higher learning located throughout seven states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to a number of the largest markets in the United States including New York (#1), Boston (#9), Baltimore (#26), Hartford/New Haven (#33) and Providence (#53). Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 24 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 16 different NCAA Championships. NEC member institutions include Bryant, Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU, Merrimack, Mount St. Mary’s, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, Saint Francis U and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league’s official website official website (www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, all @NECsports.