With five first-place votes, Franklin Pierce takes top spot in 2022-23 NEWHA preseason coaches poll

Franklin Pierce starts the 2022-23 season as the top-ranked team in the NEWHA (photo: Franklin Pierce Athletics).

Franklin Pierce, the reigning NEWHA postseason champion, has been voted by the league’s coaches as the preseason favorite in advance of the 2022-23 season, according to the poll of the league’s head coaches.

The NEWHA postseason champion in 2022-23 will receive an automatic qualifying bid to the 2023 NCAA tournament, earning that privilege via the expansion of the overall tournament field from eight to 11 teams. This season also features seven NEWHA programs competing, with the addition of Stonehill officially taking the ice later this month.

Franklin Pierce earned 33 points and five first-place votes in the poll. Long Island collected 29 points and the remaining two first-place votes, finishing just two points ahead of third-ranked Sacred Heart.

2022-23 NEWHA Preseason Coaches Poll
1. Franklin Pierce, 33 pts. (5)
2. LIU, 29 pts. (2)
3. Sacred Heart, 27 pts.
4. Saint Anselm, 24 pts.
5. Stonehill, 17 pts.
6. Post, 9 pts.
7. Saint Michael’s, 8 pts.