Posted: Aug 25, 2022

Field Hockey Placed Third in CCC Coaches' Preseason Poll

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (August 25, 2022) - The Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) released the women's field hockey preseason coaches' poll today where the Golden Bears were placed third in conference, as decided upon by the 7 coaches in the CCC.

Reigning CCC Rookie of the Year Sarah Johnston (Uxbridge, Mass.) and the Western New England Field Hockey team will look to build off one of their most successful seasons in program history in 2021 after winning 11 games during the season.

WNE will look to Johnston, who scored ten goals and picked up seven assists during the season to continue her dominance on the field during her sophomore season. Graduate Student Taylor Klesyk (Hamden, Conn.) returns for her final season with the Golden Bears after leading the team in 2021 with 14 goals. The Golden Bears will also look to Carly Anna-Barba (Madison, Conn.), and Emily Campbell (Goffstown, N.H.) to pace the offense during the season.

Defenders Abby Burns (Hooksett, N.H.), and Emma Karamian (Longmeadow, Mass.) will look to control their opponents, after the Western New England defense allowed just 31 goals in 17 games during the 2021 season. Sophomore Zoey Wexler (Manchester, Conn.) started in 14 games for the Golden Bears last season, coming away with ten wins and three shutouts.

Western New England was placed third in the preseason standings which is a move up by two spots compared to where the team was ranked to start last season. This comes after finishing the regular season in third during the 2021 season. Endicott and UNE sit at number one and two in the preseason standings just as they did last year. Endicott received 47 points and five of the first-place votes. UNE received 44 points and two first-place votes. WNE, seated third, received 30 points. Roger Williams sits firm, staying at number four, with 29 points and Salve Regina falls two spots since last year's preseason poll. The Seahawks received 22 points. Nichols and Gordon flip flop with each other from last year's poll. Nichols jumped up one spot to grab the sixth ranking spot with 15 points and Gordon falling to the number seven spot with nine points.