BEVERLY, Mass. – In a vote by the Conference of New England's 10 head coaches, Suffolk women's soccer team has been projected to place seventh in the preseason coaches' poll, released by the league office Tuesday.
With 38 points, the Rams finished seventh ahead of Curry (33), Wentworth (17) and Nichols (16).
The seventh-place projection comes on the heels of as season where Ellie McDougall coached her squad to not only the conference postseason, by the league's semifinals a year ago.
Hartford, who is now eligible for postseason play itself, collected seven first-place picksto be the preseason favorite with 97 points. Endicott received the three remaining first-place votes to slid into second, seven points behind the Hawks.
Western New England (73), University of New England (67), Gordon (66) and Roger Williams (53) took spots three through six in that order.
McDougall, who enters her third season at the helm of Suffolk's squad, has assembled one of the largest Rams rosters in women's soccer history with 33 players. That group is comprised of 23 veterans and 10 newcomers including nine true freshmen.
Back in blue-and-gold are last season's all-league selections sophomores Makena Columbus (3g, 2a) and Avery Porter (4g), as well as both sets of goalie gloves in junior Sophia Barker (1.53 GAA, .789 save %) and sophomore Arden Ferrari-Henry (1.52 GAA, .750 save %), both of whom have their names scattered throughout the Rams record books.
Suffolk's 18th season is scheduled to get underway Sunday, Sept. 1 at Elms at 2 p.m.
| 2024 CNE WOMEN'S SOCCER COACHES' POLL | |||
| Team 1. Hartford 2. Endicott 3. Western New England 4. University of New England 5. Gordon 6. Roger Williams 7. Suffolk 8. Curry 9. Wentworth 10. Nichols |
Points (FPV) 97 (7) 90 (3) 73 67 66 53 38 33 17 16 |
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