BOSTON, Mass. – Following a prolific 2023 season, the UMass Lowell field hockey team has been selected to finish second in the 2024 America East Preseason Coaches' Poll according to an announcement made by the conference office on Wednesday. Two River Hawks have also earned individual honors, as graduate student Alissia de Vries (The Hague, Netherlands) and junior Madison Leeper (East Amherst, N.Y.) were both named to the league's inaugural Preseason All-Conference Team.
 
After finishing 14-4 overall last fall and going 7-1 in conference play to earn their first America East Regular-Season Championship, the River Hawks received 29 points and two first-place vote in this year's poll among the conference's head coaches. The 2024 squad features a total of 17 returners.
 
UAlbany, who was the 2023 America East Championship runner-up, was selected to finish atop the league standings with 34 points and four first-place votes. New Hampshire finished behind UMass Lowell with 24 points in the third spot, while Maine claimed 23 points and the lone remaining first-place vote to take fourth. Vermont (20 points), Bryant (11 points) and UC Davis (6 points) rounded out the preseason picks.
 
Leeper and de Vries are both coming off of incredible performances in 2023. Leeper scored a team- and career-high 14 goals, leading the River Hawks with a personal-best 31 total points. She collected All-Region Second Team and All-Conference First Team accolades for her efforts. de Vries capped off her senior season with the program's first ever Division I All-American honors. She added All-Region and All-Conference First Team nods, as well. The America East Defensive Player of the Year anchored a tough River Hawk backfield that limited opponents to just 9.4 shots per game and 1.28 goals per game in 2023. On the other end of the field, de Vries was just as impactful, tallying five goals and two assists for a total of 12 points.
 
The 2024 campaign gets underway on Friday, August 30 when the River Hawks host Merrimack at 12 p.m.