WALTHAM, Mass. – Bentley University has been voted sixth in the annual Northeast-10 Men's Lacrosse Preseason Coaches' Poll that was released Monday. The Falcons open their season on Saturday, March 8 with a non-conference game at Dowling.

Bentley received 67 points in the poll to come in sixth. If the prediction by the conference's coaches' holds, Bentley would qualify for the NE-10 playoffs for the 12^th time in 14 seasons and 16^th time overall under head coach Jim Murphy, who begins his 22^nd season as the head coach at Bentley this year.

The top spot in the coaches' poll was taken by the defending NCAA Division II champions Le Moyne, which received 10 of 12 first-place votes and 120 points. The other two first-place votes were taken by Adelphi, which garnered 112 points to take second in the poll. The rest of the top-five has Merrimack in third (101 points), Saint Michael's fourth (86) and Southern New Hampshire fifth (75).

Following Bentley in seventh is Saint Anselm (65). Franklin Pierce in eighth (51), Saint Rose in ninth (43) and Pace in 10^th (33) rounds out the top-10. Assumption took the 11^th spot (26), while AIC is 12^th (13).

The Falcons will return nine of their top-12 scorers from 2012, led by sophomore attack Matt Brigham (Portsmouth, R.I./Portsmouth Abbey) and grad student midfielder Steve Caditz (Mercer Island, Wash./Mercer Island), who each led the team with 20 points last season.

Defensively Bentley returns seniors Billy Sweeney (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City), Riley Merritt (Weston, Mass./Brewster Academy) and long stick midfielder Tim Cobb (Hingham, Mass./Thayer Academy), plus defensive midfielder Telemachus Demoulas (Lowell, Mass./Middlesex School), all of whom were regular starters last season.

All three goalies return as well after each started multiple games last season. They are seniors Josh Baker (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) and Brian Karl (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) and sophomore Jarrod Dillon (Braintree, Mass./St. Sebastian's).

As noted above, Bentley opens its season on March 8 at Dowling, the first of three straight games on the road to begin the season. The Falcons play their home-opener on Friday, March 21 against Le Moyne.

2014 Northeast-10 Men's Lacrosse Preseason Coaches' Poll

1. Le Moyne (10) - 120

2. Adelphi (2) – 112

3. Merrimack – 101

4. Saint Michael's – 86

5. So. New Hampshire – 75

6. Bentley – 67

7. Saint Anselm – 65

8. Franklin Pierce – 51

9. Saint Rose – 43

10. Pace – 33

11. Assumption – 26

12. American International - 13