Westfield, Mass.— With the six MASCAC teams now competing under the conference umbrella, Worcester State has been voted by the coaches around the league to win the 2023 MASCAC Field Hockey Championship in the inaugural preseason poll.

The 2023 season will be the first time the MASCAC field hockey teams will compete for the conference’s tournament title and AQ into the NCAA Tournament after serving as affiliates in the Little East Conference previously. 

Last  season MASCAC Regular Season Champions Worcester State finished with four first place votes for 24 points in this year’s poll. The Lancers were undefeated at 5-0 among the conference teams in 2022. Coming back is Madison Ferrera in goal who started in all 21 games for the Lancers and led the conference in goals against average at 1.745, and second in the conference with a .830 save percentage.

Tied for the second spot is Framingham State and Westfield State with 18 points. Both teams were 3-2 in the MASCAC in 2022. For the Rams, Kondi was named All-LEC third team after scoring six goals and seven assists good for 19 points on the year. Kondi netted three game-winners and made one defensive save on the season.  For the Owls, Skyla Harthcock led the team with 30 points and 10 assists, and shared the team lead in goals. Harthcock’s 10 assists were the fourth-best single season in Westfield State program history to help her land on the LEC All-Conference team.

Fitchburg State is fourth with the final first place vote with 15 points. The Falcons also were 3-2 in the league last season. All-Conference goalie Jenna Morse looks to repeat her success after she earned her first All-Conference nod after anchoring the Falcons defense, totaling 160 saves with a 1.83 goals against average and an .833 save percentage with nine wins in the cage.

Rounding out the 2023 poll is Salem State in fifth and Bridgewater State in sixth. The Vikings had eight points in the poll. The sister duo of Melanie and Mikayla Mason are back after Melanie, a second team selection in 2021, led Salem State with seven goals last season. Mikayla earned her second straight all-conference appearance after leading the Vikings with four assists and her 10 points were second most on the team. The Bears tallied seven points and return Zoe Bergeron who netted two goals and two assist for six points last season

The field hockey season gets underway September 1-2 with all six MASCAC teams in non-conference action. Grab all the details at mascac.com and mascac.tv.