SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Three-time defending champion Roger Williams University has been voted as the favorite to win the 2013 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women's soccer championship after receiving seven first place votes and a total of 97 points in the CCC preseason poll. Endicott College earned second place with 87 points and one first place vote. Gordon College, the 2012 runner-up, claimed third with 84 points and garnered the last two first place votes, while Eastern Nazarene College was selected fourth after receiving 64 points to round out the top billing. With 13 players returning for the 2013 campaign, including four of its top five scorers from a season ago, Wentworth was picked to finish seventh.
Voting for the preseason poll was conducted among the league's head women's soccer coaches.
The top two teams in the 2013 poll competed in the postseason at either the NCAA Tournament or the ECAC Tournament in 2012. After the Hawks captured their third consecutive CCC title, a 1-0 upset over the top-seeded Fighting Scots, their postseason continued with a NCAA first round game at Messiah College. The Falcons handed Roger Williams a tough 2-1 loss to end the Hawks impressive postseason. Endicott also competed in the postseason at the ECAC tournament. The Gulls worked their way through the tournament and eventually upset the top-seeded University of Saint Joseph 2-0 to claim the program's first ECAC championship.
2013 CCC Women's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll
|
Team |
Points (First Place Votes) |
|
|
1. |
Roger Williams |
97 (7) |
|
2. |
Endicott |
87 (1) |
|
3. |
Gordon |
84 (2) |
|
4. |
Eastern Nazarene |
64 |
|
5. |
63 |
|
|
6. |
42 |
|
|
7. |
Wentworth |
40 |
|
8. |
32 |
|
|
9. |
28 |
|
|
10. |
13 |
All 10 CCC women's soccer teams will kick off their quest for the 2013 conference title this weekend. The top eight teams in the 2013 regular-season conference standings will qualify for the conference tournament, which gets underway Saturday, November 2, with quarterfinal action. The winners of the quarterfinal matchups will move on to the semifinals on Wednesday, November 6. The two semifinal victors will battle for the CCC championship on Saturday, November 9.
Click HERE to view the 2013 CCC Women's Soccer composite schedule; for the full release and team previews of all 10 CCC teams, click HERE.
(Release Courtesy of the Commonwealth Coast Conference)
