BIDDEFORD — When the University of New England women’s lacrosse team takes the field Saturday for its 2013 season opener against Wellesley, it will be the jumping-off point for one of the most anticipated campaigns in program history.

Returning nearly the entire roster from a year ago, when the Nor’easters won a school-record 12 games and went 6-1 in conference play, expectations are high in Biddeford, where coach Sue Estabrook enters her fifth season at the helm.

“I think this can be the best team that I’ve ever coached,” Estabrook said. “They work hard at everything, they take pride in themselves in everything, and as a coach, that’s a blessing. They’re a very committed group, they work hard, they all want to be here ”“ which is a great thing to have.”

The rest of the coaches in the Commonwealth Coast Conference agree, tabbing the Nor’easters to finish second in the CCC preseason poll, behind only seven-time defending champion Endicott.

Last season, UNE surprised everyone by finishing second in the league after being picked sixth in the same poll, but the new role of being one of the favorites doesn’t bother senior captain Emily Lodge.

“I’m a fan of having a target on our back, because it really raises the energy, it really raises the expectations and it really gets everybody to work even harder,” Lodge said. “We are the second-placed team, and we want to shoot for that number one, and we’re going to play like that.”

There’s plenty of reason for optimism. The Nor’easters return four of their top five leading scorers from a season ago, including attackers Hannah Tavella and 2012 CCC Rookie of the Year Gina Newsome, who combined for 109 goals and 48 assists a season ago.

They’ll be supported by midfielders Cara Cole, Nikki Smith, Rachel Schwaner, Hannah Warren and Lodge, all of whom were in double-digits in goals last year. Estabrook said the team’s strength should be the variety of scoring options it can throw at opposing defenses.

“We have a bunch of girls who can definitely step up and score. That’s always been a strength of our offense,” Tavella said. “We’re all connecting really well. We all are so used to how each other play.”

While scoring should be a strength, a defensive core led by 2012 CCC Co-Defensive Player of the Year Nicolle Steel should make sure letting in goals won’t be a weakness.

Steel, who last year led the conference with 44 caused turnovers and was second with 55 ground balls, will be joined in the defensive midfield by Lodge (56 draw controls, 48 ground balls and 30 caused turnovers last season), while Gina Iannazzi and Olivia Robbins, who both started all 17 games last year, will anchor the defensemen.

“We’re pretty confident,” Steel said of the defensive group. “We have a really good team overall so it’s very easy to trust your teammates. We all get along really well on and off the field and that makes a huge difference when we’re playing.”

Where the Nor’easters could be vulnerable is in net. The Nor’easters will rely on freshman Courtney Kendall, the only goaltender on the roster after last year’s starter, Samantha St. Pierre, left the program. Estabrook said Kendall has had a strong preseason, and that she’s not as worried as some may be by going into the season with a rookie installed in arguably the most important position on the field.

“I’m confident in Courtney,” Estabrook said. “She’s done a great job, she’s already earned the trust of the entire team, and I think she’s going to be great for us. We have one goalie and it is what it is. Every team has hurdles and you just climb on top of them.”

In addition to Saturday’s 1 p.m. home opener with Wellesley, UNE has plenty of tough tests in its non-conference slate before CCC action begins in late March, highlighted by back-to-back matchups with in-state foes Bowdoin and Colby, ranked 12th and seventh, respectively, in the NCAA Division III preseason poll.

Getting the chance to play that level of competition from the get-go is something that excited both players and coach, they said.

“It’s a very good thing for our team, because we’re a strong team and we definitely see that we can compete, and we can beat some of these teams that might be perceived to be tougher than us,” Lodge said. “Playing those tougher teams just makes us better regardless of the outcome, and I think that’s great for our confidence.”

“If you want to be the best you’ve got to play the best, and sometimes you’ve got to get your butts kicked by the best,” Estabrook added. “We get better every time we play a Bowdoin or a Colby. We want to be competing with them, and if we don’t know how they compete, we can never compete with them.

“We want to be like them, so I think that creates a little more motivation.”

Getting to that level starts with consistency, and this spring, the Nor’easters will be looking for their first back-to-back winning seasons since 2001-02.

Estabrook said the talent is certainly there to do it, with the ultimate goal being to end Endicott’s reign and earn UNE’s first-ever trip to the NCAA tournament.

“We do have a chance to have a very successful season. How successful I’m not sure,” Estabrook said. “I know we’re now the team to get, so people are going to come at us harder, but hopefully so will we.

“Last year, we got a taste in our mouths of what we can do, and we just want to do better.”

 — Contact Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar at 282-1535, Ext. 323.