No. 14 Rowan field hockey faced yet another nationally-ranked opponent on Wednesday, September 3, and defeated the No. 22 Swarthmore Garnet 3-1 to start off their season with two straight wins.

The start of Rowan’s non-conference game in Glassboro started slow. As minutes ticked away in the first quarter of a scoreless game, the Profs knocked away threat after threat out-of-bounds.

Time seemed to move at half speed, as neither team could catch a break and put up their first point of the game. Then, sophomore Jenna Gray found herself on the end line. She rolled a short pass through the defense to junior Lily Bataloni, who poked in the first goal of the game.

“I think at first we were doing good, but it wasn’t good enough,” Bataloni said. “We needed to keep finding that fire. And I think scoring that one goal really just started it all, so I think it only went up from there, to be honest.” 

From that point on, Rowan began to pick up momentum. Bataloni tried once more to ignite that fire for the Profs, but her shot just 44 seconds into the second half went wide right on a good chance to sneak one past Swarthmore goalkeeper Cassandra Conklin. 

Later in the third, Rowan goalkeeper Mariah Juiliano made a diving save on a shot from Erin Coyle. Annika Hoyer collected the rebound on Juiliano’s save to slide one into the net to tie the game at one apiece. 

27 seconds later, Rowan was right back on top thanks to Sydney Kowalczyk’s second career goal, a “reverse tomahawk” to give the Profs the 2-1 lead.

“Talking after that [Swarthmore] goal, we knew that we wanted to force the ball up and keep pushing,” Juiliano said. “So we just went up from there instead of hanging our heads.” 

It’s been a hot start for Kowalczyk, who was redshirted her freshman year at Wagner. The transfer has had a tremendous start to her Rowan career with two goals across two games against nationally-ranked programs.

“It’s really difficult to defend her,” said head coach Michelle Andre. “I think that piece alone is giving us a little more dynamic in our attacking end.” 

Junior Gracie Merrick added another key goal for Rowan off a pass from Alexa Ronning. Ronning delivered the ball past Swarthmore’s Conklin on the left side of the cage to put the Profs up 3-1.

From there, Rowan was able to play a quiet game, which is exactly what they needed to do up two goals. Swarthmore only drew one corner in the final 15 minutes and only fired two of their 14 total shots in the final frame. 

It was a 13-save day for Juiliano, who has now tallied 19 saves on the year to her two goals allowed. She’s shown up where it matters, and she attributes that success to her support system.

“Just staying on my toes and trusting my teammates,” Juiliano said. “Just knowing they have my back all year, and I got to have theirs.” 

Now, the page turns for the Profs to Johns Hopkins, who is ranked nationally at No. 5. It’s a team Rowan has played every year since 2021, and has only beaten once in 2022. Last year’s matchup saw a 3-0 setback. 

But, Rowan seems to be opening the season with some of their best play. Johns Hopkins was challenged with No. 6 Christopher Newport, and suffered a 5-3 loss as a result. That loss will sit with the team from Baltimore all week, without a weekday game. 

“We’re going to be prepared to play,” Andre said. “We’re going to be ready to play and it’s going to be a match.”

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