The snow is starting to melt away and with that, Saint Anselm College winter sports are coming to an end. As the days slowly lengthen and the weather slowly warms, Saint Anselm’s baseball, softball and lacrosse teams prepare to spring into action.

Baseball is looking to rebound after a disappointing 2015-2016 campaign where they finished with a final record of 8-35. Earlier this year it was revealed that Barry Rosen will be serving his final season as head coach due to disappointing results over his tenure.  Although the sample size is small, the Hawks are not looking much improved after last season as they dropped three tough games to Limestone College during their annual trip to South Carolina. Conference play for the baseball team starts the 4th of March when the team travels to Florida.

As for softball, they only fared slightly better last season finishing with a record of 12-26. This is very surprising for the program because head coach Julie Gagnon had led the team to two previous winning seasons that each came with a playoff berth. Unfortunately for the team, three of of their top hitters- Pattie Turner, Julie LeClair, and Michaela Criscione, have graduated. However, the Hawks will retain their top hitter and All Ne-10 third team player Amanda Bickford. Combining with Bickford, the Hawks have some great talent with Megan Murell and Shannon Mclaughlin who respectively finished fourth and fifth on the team in batting average. The team looks to bounce back on their trip to Florida with games starting on March 8th.

Turning to Lacrosse, the men’s team look to add on to their success last year that resulted in awinning season and berth to the Ne-10 tournament where they lost in the first round to Adelphi College. Things look good for a repeat, or even better, performance from the Hawks with eight out of nine of the Hawks double-digit scorers returning to the team again this year. Leading the pack is Senior Mark Vitello who was a All Ne-10 second team player last season. Other key members for the team on offense this year include James Olsen and Alex Pacitti. On the defensive side of the field, Saint Anselm will have first-team All New-England goalkeeper Lucas DeAngelo joined by fellow All New England defensemen Drew Bourdeau and Derrick LaBranche. The Hawks men’s lacrosse season starts March 4th against Mercy College.

On the other hand, Women’s lacrosse is coming off of a somewhat disappointing season, finishing 7-8 overall and narrowly missing playoffs. This season, things are looking up though as the Hawks are ranked number 20 in the nation according to US Lacrosse’s poll. The Hawks have 12 members returning to the field from last year’s team. Leading the way are All-NE10 Second Team pick Liv Connly, NE10 All-Rookie selection Molly Beck and last season’s third-leading scorer Erica Mattila. The trio will look to improve upon last season starting on March 4th when the Hawks head to Florida to start their season versus Florida Tech.