Southern Maine Tabbed As Coaches' Preseason Pick 

GORHAM, Maine  -  The University of Southern Maine Huskies received five 
first-place votes and 60 points to finish first among the eight teams in the 
annual preseason poll of the Little East Conference's softball coaches.
	
The Huskies finished ahead of the Western Connecticut State University 
Colonials, who captured the other three first-place votes and 54 total points. A 
year ago, Western Connecticut posted a 13-1 mark to win its second consecutive 
LEC regular-season title, before adding the conference tournament title. The 
Colonials received the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, where they 
compiled a 1-2 slate to finish the campaign with an overall mark of 35-4.
	
The only conference team to defeat Western Connecticut in the 2001 regular 
season was Southern Maine, which finished in second place with a 10-4 conference 
ledger and concluded the year with an overall mark of 21-14.
	
Keene State, which bowed to Western Connecticut in last year's title game, 
received 48 points to finish third in the preseason poll.  The Owls compiled a 
9-5 record to finish third in the conference race a year ago, while their 
overall record was 20-16.
	
The remainder of the poll found Rhode Island College (7-7; 22-19) in 
fourth place with 43 points, Eastern Connecticut (8-6; 18-22) in fifth place 
with 30 points, Plymouth State (4-10; 10-20) in sixth place with 27 points, 
UMass Dartmouth (5-9; 12-19) in seventh place with 18 points, and UMass Boston 
(0-14; 1-19) in eighth place with 8 points.
	
Each of the league's eight members will play a 14-game, regular-season 
conference schedule, consisting of doubleheaders against the remaining seven 
league foes. The top six teams will advance to the conference tournament, with 
the top two teams receiving a first-round bye. Opening round games will be 
played on April 30 at the site of the higher seed. The two winners will advance 
to the four-team, double-elimination tournament to be held on May 3-4 at the 
site of the regular-season champion.


              2002 Little East Conference Preseason Softball Poll

                 Rk     Team (1st Place Votes)          Points
                 1)     Southern Maine (5)                60
                 2)     Western Connecticut (3)           54
                 3)     Keene State                       48
                 4)     Rhode Island College              43
                 5)     Eastern Connecticut               30
                 6)     Plymouth State                    27
                 7)     UMass Dartmouth                   18
                 8)     UMass Boston                       8