ADRIAN, Mich. – The Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) released the 2022 Women's Lacrosse Preseason Coaches Poll last week. The Siena Heights women's lacrosse team was ranked second, one spot higher than the team's finished in the previous year. In addition to the WHAC poll, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) released the 2022 Top 10 preseason Poll where the Saints were ranked seventh.
The Saints return NAIA first-team All-America selection, Marissa Cirino. Cirino was also crowned the league's offensive player of the year, a member of the All-Academic team, and first-team All-WHAC a season ago. Also returning this season is Alexis Nicole, a second-team All-WHAC member. Sophomore Madison Spell returns to play in the 2022 season as well. SHU has a total of 14 upperclassmen returning to the field this season. Top newcomers for the Saints include Hannah Merrick, a senior transfer from Lourdes University. Tayler Stockdale, a freshman from British Columbia, Canada, and Courtney Frankfurth from Ramsey, Michigan.
"Being one of the top teams in the WHAC and 7th in the NAIA is a great way to start the season," said SHU head coach Alexa Matta. "We haven't met our goal, but we are putting in the work, and it shows. This week, we stressed that getting to the top is not the hardest part. It's staying at the top. This team is up for the challenge, and we can't wait to get games started."
The preseason poll is voted on by the coaches in the league who rank each team in the WHAC from 1-10. Ten points are given to the team at the top of the list, nine points to the second-ranked team, and so on to determine the order of the poll.
Lawrence Tech moved into 1st in this year's preseason poll with a total of 99 points and nine first-place votes. Only nine points shy of first, Siena Heights, was placed 2nd with a total of 90 points and one first-place vote. Following in third is Concordia (Mich.) with 79 points, only 11 points ahead of fourth-place Aquinas, with 68 points. The fifth spot was occupied by Indiana Tech, who was given 60 points. Finally, Bethel University topped Madonna with a small margin of seven points to hold sixth in the poll. While Madonna took seventh with a total of 41 points. Rounding off the poll, Cleary was selected for eighth place with 33 points, while Lourdes received 22 points and Rochester ranked tenth with ten total points.
Click here for the WHAC release of the 2022 Women's Lacrosse Preseason Coaches Poll.
