USM Announces Women's Lacrosse Captains

USM women's lacrosse captains for the 2016 season are (left to right) Kaelyn Kuni, Lauren Lessard, Anh Nguyen and Sarah Pelligrinelli.

USM Announces Women's Lax Captains
Huskies Open 2016 Season Hosting Husson on Saturday

            GORHAM, Maine -- Second-year University of Southern Maine women's lacrosse head coach Ashley Dyer announced this week that seniors Anh Nguyen (South Portland, Maine) and Sarah Pelligrinelli (Southington, Conn.), along with juniors Kaelyn Kuni (Waterboro, Maine/Massabesic) and Lauren Lessard (Lewiston, Maine/Kents Hill), will serve as captains when the Huskies take the field this spring.

            Southern Maine opens the 2016 season this Saturday (12:00 p.m.) hosting Husson University for a non-conference match at Hannaford Field.  USM has 16 games on the schedule this season, including nine at home.

            This is the second straight season that Lessard, Nguyen and Pelligrinelli have served as captains.  This will be Kuni's first tour as a captain.  Dyer returns 11 players from last year's squad that finished 7-12 overall and 3-3 in the Little East Conference on her 20-player roster.

            Nguyen and Pelligrinelli finished 1-2 on the Huskies' scoresheet last spring en route to
earning All-Little East honors.  Nguyen, a first-team All-LEC pick, led the team with 71 points on 40 goals and a single-season record 31 assists.  She also collected 32 ground balls and 33 draw controls.  Pelligrinelli, a second team All-LEC selection, added a team-high 54 goals and 11 assists for 65 points, and scooped up 34 ground balls.

            Lessard was sixth on the scoring list with 18 goals and seven assists for 25 points.  She picked up 46 ground balls and had 24 draw controls.  Kuni led the Huskies' defensive corps collecting 53 ground balls.

            All four players are outstanding students in the classroom with better than a 3.00 cumulative GPA.  Kuni and Lessard were among the five USM players last season to land a spot on the LEC Spring All-Academic team that requires a minimum 3.30 cumulative GPA.

            In other women' lacrosse news, the Little East Conference announced the results of its annual coaches preseason poll.  The Huskies were fifth among the seven teams in the final tally with 24 points.  Defending champion Keene State College topped the poll earning four first-place votes and 44 total points.  Plymouth State University edged Western Connecticut State University for the runner-up spot, 37-35.  Eastern Connecticut State University was fourth with 30 points.  The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Rhode Island College followed USM in the poll.

            USM opens LEC play on April 2 hosting Eastern Connecticut.

            The top six teams at the end of the regular season will advance to the LEC Championship Tournament that starts May 3.  The winner of the tournament receives the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament.

 

2016 Little East Conference Women's Lacrosse Preseason Poll

Institution	1st-Place Votes	Total Points
1. Keene State	4	44
2. Plymouth State	1	37
3. Western Connecticut	2	35
4. Eastern Connecticut		30
5. Southern Maine		24
6. UMass Dartmouth		14
7. Rhode Island College		11