PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The WestConn men's lacrosse team was picked to repeat as Little East Conference (LEC) champions by the league's head coaches according to the LEC's annual Coaches Preseason Poll released today by the conference office.The Wolves took 62 points and six of the nine first-place votes, finishing nine points higher than that of second-place UMass-Boston. Coached by Ryan Cavanagh (5th Season), the Wolves went 16-5 overall and 7-1 in the LEC in 2023 and downed the UMass-Boston Beacons, 14-9, to win the league title. The Wolves represented the conference well in the 2023 NCAA Division III Championship Tournament, defeating New England College on the road, 17-9, in the opening round before falling at RIT, 20-8, in the second round.  WestConn begins the 2024 campaign at Salve Regina on Saturday, February 17 at 2 p.m.

The Wolves return a multitude of top players from the 2023 campaign, including junior attacker Julian Duque (Mastic, N.Y.), sophomore midfielder Tristan McMahon (Farmingville, N.Y.), and graduate student Jonathan Russack-Baker (Groton, Conn.) who were each members of the LEC All-Conference Team last spring.  Duque scored 68 goals with 13 assists, McMahon had 33 goals and 20 assists while collecting the conference rookie of the year award, and Russack-Baker won almost 60 percent of his faceoffs and scooped 207 ground balls in 2023.  Benjamin Hawthorne (Manorville, N.Y.) is a top scorer coming back as a graduate student with 25 goals and 36 assists last season, while senior goalie Brendan Grove (Cheshire, Conn.) is a returning starter who made 195 save for a .512 save percentage in 2023, and classmates Joseph Boss (Holbrook, N.Y.) and Lawrence Byrnes (Massapequa, N.Y.) are top returning midfielders for WestConn.