Women's Golf Selected As MAAC Preseason Favorite

ALBANY, N.Y. -- The University at Albany has been selected as the favorite to win the 2015 MAAC Women's Golf Championship. The Great Danes received a total of 59 votes, including four first place votes to claim the top spot.

“I'm super excited and honored that UAlbany is picked first in the MAAC preseason poll,” said head coach Colleen Cashman-McSween. “That is certainly a tribute to the hard work, belief, and dedication of our very young group of three returning sophomores and two freshmen.”

Dayton and the reigning champions from Siena tied for second in the preseason poll with 49 points apiece. The Saints earned two first-place votes, while first-year league member, Dayton, received one. Fairfield followed closely behind with 46 points to come in fourth. Monmouth followed in fifth with 29 points, Hartford (27) finished sixth, while Quinnipiac (17) and Niagara (12) came in seventh and eighth, respectively.

“As their coach, I'm very excited to see the potential of this team overall and where we can go in the future,” added Cashman-McSween. “Without getting ahead of ourselves, we have to take every day of practice and every tournament seriously in order to be prepared for the MAAC Championship at the end of April.”

In 2014, the Great Danes just missed a second-place finish at the MAAC Championship with a three-day total of 1,007 – two strokes behind runner-up, Quinnipiac. UAlbany's 2015 roster features a wealth of youth, as five student-athletes on the team are underclassmen. A second-place finish at the Quinnipiac Classic and a third-place finish at the Lehigh Invitational highlighted the fall season for the Great Danes. The squad had two golfers finish in the top-10 at both tournaments, led by rookie Annie Lee who tied for fifth at Lehigh and eighth at Quinnipiac.

“We are very much looking forward to our first spring tournament in two and a half weeks when we head to Daytona Beach to play some golf outside on nice green grass,” said Cashman-McSween. “It will hopefully be a great start to what can potentially be a historic season for UAlbany women's golf.”

The Great Danes open the spring season at the Lonnie Barton Invitational March 9-10 at LPGA International Golf Course. The 2015 MAAC Women's Golf Championships will be held April 24-26 at Disney's Magnolia Golf Course in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

2015 Coaches Preseason Poll