Billy Joel claimed that he, along with society in 1989, weren’t the one’s to start the fire.

Flash forward to the fall of 2018. You could argue that the Rowan field hockey team has ignited their own.

Amidst the cheesiness above, the Profs are on fire with a 10-0 start to the season. This past week, the Penn Monto/National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division III Coaches Poll ranked the brown and gold seventh; two spots up from their ninth-place spot last week.

Although they are outscoring their opponents 51-8 in the time-span, there’s still some aspects of Rowan’s game that need to be tweaked here and there.

“Some things we’ve been doing well are our teamwork and connecting well on passes,” said senior back and co-captain Julie Johnson. “We’re being really positive. Some things we need to work on are not necessarily something in particular as a team. Each of us have things that we can continue to get better on, but for the most part it’s everyday at practice perfecting the things we need help with.”

Now, some teams might cater their game plans based on their opposing team’s tendencies and statistics.

The Profs don’t bat an eye to any of it.

“So, we aren’t playing different for each team,” Johnson said. “Instead, we’re looking to, more so, be ourselves. Be Rowan field hockey. We aren’t changing who we are to play other people. We might have different plays that might work better against other teams, but in general we are doing what we do best.”

Off to their best start under fourth-year head coach Michelle Andre, a key to the team’s ongoing success has been similar to what Johnson mentioned. Acting instead of reacting, if you will.

“One of the things I really love, especially in the game on Saturday, is I really felt it was more about us and how we played instead of reacting to William Paterson,” Andre said. “I think that we made sure we generated our attack in transition. We generated a lot of midfield attack. Our forward attacking unit just works so well with our mid-fields and our backs. The way we’re structured, we’re just playing with such a fluid matter. We play fast, we’re a very quick team in transition.”

The enhanced chemistry that the team has displayed has led them to be the top team in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) in goals scored, shots and assists. The Profs also have had to save only 25 shots, the least in the conference. Opponents have made more than four times the amount of saves (106).

The goals didn’t stop coming, as the brown and gold beat Stockton University 6-0 on Wednesday night to move to 11-0. Rachel Galante, Molly Gorczyca, Bridget Guinan and Krystyna Hovell each had a goal apiece. Kristiina Castagnola put two in the back of the cage for her fourth and fifth goals of the year.

Additional reporting by Conlan Farrell.

For comments/questions about this story, email sports@thewhitonline.com or tweet @TheWhitOnline.