BENNINGTON, Vt. — The New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) has announced the results of its 2016 women’s lacrosse preseason coaches poll with Southern Vermont College voted to finish fifth this year in the league standings.
The second-year Mountaineer program will once again be led by head coach Thomas L. Otero who looks to improve upon last season’s 4-10 overall record and make it back into the Conference playoffs. Last year, in its inaugural campaign, SVC made it into the postseason as the No. 5 seed with a 3-4 mark in NECC play.
“I am looking for a large improvement this season as a result of the number of new players we have,” Otero commented. “The work ethic of last year’s players, and the combined skills of our new players, have really complemented this team so far. We are still a ways from where I want to be, but the future is much brighter this year with our current team.”
Otero brings a healthy mix of returning players and new faces to this year’s squad, welcoming in 10 first-time Mountaineers to join his nine veterans. Among those coming back to play for Southern Vermont are juniors Lauren Nesshoever (Chittenden, Vt.), Emily Lesure (Cheshire, Mass.), and Melodie Orrell (Gloucester, Mass.), all three of whom will once again be captains for SVC.
Nesshoever garnered an All-NECC Honorable Mention last year as a defender, scoring 13 goals from the backfield to rank fourth on the team in the category. She scooped up 27 ground balls in 2015, the fifth most for Southern Vermont, while also collecting the fourth-most draw controls for the Mountaineers with 14.
Lesure bagged the second-most goals for SVC last year with 34 and grabbed a team-leading 54 draw controls on the season; that draw control total was good enough to rank seventh in all of the NECC. She was also third for the Mountaineers with 37 ground balls while tying the team-high of eight free-position goals.
Orrell set four single season program records last year as she led the team in goals (43), points (44), ground balls (57), and caused turnovers (16). She also followed Lesure with the second-most draw controls for the team at 36. Her goals total ranked ninth in the NECC last year while her ground balls mark was the seventh-highest in the league.
“Last season, with our limited number of players, demanded that all players had to learn all positions and aspects of the game of lacrosse to be competitive,” Otero continued. “That experience will, hopefully, allow our veteran team members to blend with our new players to increase our level of game play. Also, we really did not have a significant number of substitute players last season which did not allow our team to recover adequately during, after, and between games. We will not have that situation this season.”
SVC is set to open up the regular season with a home match on Sunday, March 20 against Rivier University, and the Mountaineers then begin Conference play on March 30 with a 4 p.m. first draw at Becker College. Southern Vermont will hold its Senior Day on Saturday, April 23 in conjunction with a 2:30 p.m. home game against Elms College, honoring its lone senior in Emily Freling (Schenevus, N.Y.).
Regis College, a team that has claimed the NECC regular season and postseason championships in each of the last two years, was unanimously selected to once again finish atop the standings with all eight first-place votes. Wheelock College was tabbed second in the poll while Becker College, the 2015 tournament runner-up, took third.
2016 NECC Women’s Lacrosse Preseason Coaches Poll
1. Regis - 64 (8)
2. Wheelock - 54
3. Becker - 45
4. Elms - 44
5. Southern Vermont - 28
6. Mitchell - 23
7. Bay Path - 18
8. Daniel Webster - 12
(First-place votes noted in parentheses)