The Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference released its 2023 Preseason Coaches Poll on Tuesday and defending champion Lake Forest College was listed first in the rankings.
Voting is done by the MWLC head coaches. Each coach votes for the other seven teams in the league in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (seven points for first, six for second, etc.). Coaches may not vote for their own teams.
The Foresters received each of the seven possible first place votes to finish with 49 points. The other top vote went to Hamline University, which was second in the poll with 39 points. Northwestern University-Saint Paul and Cornell College rounded out the top four with 36 and 34 points, respectively.
Lake Forest finished 11-4 overall and 5-0 in the MWLC in 2021, the program's first season as a varsity sport. Forester goalie Calliope Saban was voted MWLC Defensive Player of the Year, Jenna Doctor MWLC Attacker of the Year, and midfielder Krissy Kuwahara MWLC Rookie of the Year. They were joined by midfielders Ali Graham and Ryleigh Nelson as First Team All-MWLC selections while fellow midfielder Cass Barbera was a Second Team selection.
The Foresters will open the 2023 season, Wei Chenh's first as the team's head coach after a year as an assistant, at North Central College on Wednesday, March 1. The team will begin league play against visiting Wartburg College a month later, and the regular season will conclude with another home game against Northwestern-Saint Paul on April 29. The top four teams in the conference will qualify for the MWLC Tournament, which will be made up of semifinal games on May 3 and the final on May 6.
| PLACE | TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
| 1 | Lake Forest College (7) | 49 |
| 2 | Hamline University (1) | 39 |
| 3 | Northwestern University-Saint Paul | 36 |
| 4 | Cornell College | 34 |
| 5 | Wartburg College | 24 |
| 6 | Augsburg College | 23 |
| 7 | College of Saint Benedict | 13 |
| 8 | Monmouth College | 10 |
