Owls Picked 1st in LEC Preseason Poll

NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass.  3/4/10 - Keene State College came in atop the 2010 Little East Conference women's lacrosse preseason poll, narrowly edging Eastern Connecticut State University for the distinction.  In votes cast by the conference's seven head coaches, the two schools garnered three first place votes apiece.  The Owls took the overall vote by a narrow six point-margin, taking 45 points to the Warriors' 39.  As defending champions of the conference from 2009, Keene State finds themselves selected as preseason favorites for the first time since the poll's inception in 2002.

The survey's results reflect a budding rivalry between the two-top vote getters heading into the 2010 season.  In 2009, the Owls and Warriors split two head-to-head contests, each of which were decided by a single goal.  While Eastern Connecticut grabbed a 14-13 victory last March, Keene State countered with a thrilling 9-8 overtime victory last May to claim the 2009 Little East Tournament Championship on the Warriors' home field.  The Owls and Warriors headline the first day of this spring's conference play with a head-to-head matchup at Keene State at 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 3.

Head Coach Katie Arsenault enters the 2010 faced with the challenge of putting together a proper encore.  In her first season at the helm, Arsenault guided the Owls to their first-ever Little East Championship and appearance in the NCAA tournament.  Along the way, Keene State set new program records in consecutive victories (8) and Little East Conference regular season victories (5).  The Owls return an All-Conference, first team selection from last season in junior midfielder Jamie Albert (Southington, Conn.), who notched 37 goals and 16 assists in 2009.  Arsenault also welcomes back junior attacker Jill Kirk (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.), who led the team in scoring last season with 48 goals while starting all 20 games.  Keene State also returns two juniors who appeared on the All-Little East second-team in 2009: midfielder Emily Persano (Somers, Conn.) and defender Annie Brown (Westwood, Mass.). 

The Owls will travel to St. Michael's on Saturday for their season opener at 1 p.m.