WALTHAM, Mass. – The Bentley University women's soccer team was tabbed for fifth in the Northeast-10 Preseason Coaches' Poll.

The Falcons collected 105 points and one first place vote to claim the fifth spot in the poll.

The full poll and a preview for each NE10 team can be found here:

https://spark.adobe.com/page/f55Y6cR54fKXk/

Saint Rose took the top spot with 166 points and 10 first place votes. Stonehill followed in second with 138 points, Southern New Hampshire was third with 136 points and Adelphi was fourth with 135 points and one first place vote. Franklin Pierce was sixth with 103 points and AIC was seventh with 95, and each team received one first place vote.

The Falcons are coming off a standout 2019 season that saw them earn the program's first ever NCAA Tournament berth. They posted a 10-8-2 overall record and advanced to the semifinals of the NE10 playoffs after they beat SNHU 1-0 in the quarterfinals. In the NE10 regular season they posted a 7-5-1 record to finish in fourth place with 22 points.

Head coach Lauren Lukis named has 16 student-athletes returning from that 2019 squad, including team captains goalie Kat Hassapis (North Reading, Mass./North Reading), defenders Maeli Cherry (Westford, Mass./Westford) and Megan Doubleday (Wolcott, Conn./Wolcott) and midfielders Dana Goulet (Wilmington, Mass./Wilmington) and Rebecca Nguyen (Dudley, Mass./Shepherd Hill).

They will be joined by five sophomores who did not get to play last season due to the 2020 NE10 season not taking place, nine freshmen and transfer Brooke Jones (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) from Fairfield University.

Bentley will get the 2021 season started at home, on Friday, Sept. 3 against Molloy.