Spring is coming, which can only mean the lacrosse season is starting soon.

Both the mens and womens teams are set to kick off the season this Saturday, Feb 16 against Colgate University.

The mens team plays Colgate at Virtue Field at 1 p.m., while the womens team faces off against the Raiders on their home field in Hamilton, New York at the same time.

Mens lacrosse was picked to finish sixth in the America East Preseason Poll. Albany received three first place votes and 22 points total (out of a possible 25) to earn the top spot in the poll after reaching the America East Championship game last season. The Catamounts will return 53 percent of their scoring from last season.

Vermont will look to improve on last season after rounding out the year with a 2-12 record while finishing 1-4 in conference play. UVM has looked to re-tool their personnel by adding 19 newcomers this season including three transfers.

Head coach Ryan Curtis announced that Ryan Browning and Patrick Cairns have been added as assistant coaches. Browning attended Salisbury University where he was a member of the 2007 and 2008 NCAA D-III National Championship squads.

Leading scorer Drew Phillie is returning for his senior season. Last year he had 29 goals and earned a spot on the all-conference second team. On the list of active career goals, Phillie ranks 10th with 89 goals.

For the women’s team, Jen Johnson announced that Mary Teeters would join as assistant coach. Teeters comes to UVM after four years at Towson University.

She was a goalkeeper for the Tigers and named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2012 Colonial Athletic Association Tournament. She was a key piece in helping the Tigers win their fifth CAA title and advance to the NCAA Tournament last year.

Women’s lacrosse head coach Jen Johnson said that, Preseason has being going very well. We are really starting to click as a team and are so excited to start playing games. We accomplished some great things last year both individually and as a team. We set some new records and took another huge step forward as a program. Our team goal is to be America East Champs.

Last year, the women’s team finished 9-8, with a 2-4 conference record. Vermont returns 21 letterwinners from last seasons squad, including the teams leading goal scorer, junior Sydney Mas. The junior led the team with 53 goals last season to earn a spot on the America East All-Conference First Team. She currently ranks fourth on the all-time career goals list at Vermont with 108, needing just 32 goals to become the all-time leader.

The Vermont womens lacrosse team was picked to finish fifth in the 2013 America East Preseason Coaches Poll. The top four teams in the final regular season standings will advance to the America East Tournament, which will be played on May 2 and 4 on the campus of the highest seed.

Johnson said, We are going to work hard this season to build momentum in our non-conference games to get ready for conference play. We have more depth this year and our team chemistry is strong. We are focusing on the little things and taking it day by day.