Last year the Rowan women’s lacrosse team finished with a 10-7 overall record, falling just short of the New Jersey Athletic Conference title to The College of New Jersey in the championship game.

In 2016, the brown and gold will be going for their seventh season with at least 10 wins. Rowan was selected to finish third in the NJAC Preseason Coaches Poll.

The team features 18 underclassmen this season. Rowan will rely on that youth to fuel an offense that a year ago averaged just over 13 goals per game and led the conference in shots and was second in shot percentage.

Head coach Lindsay Delaney doesn’t see a problem going with youth, but that at times it is a weaker point for the team.

“Through the season they will learn what plays to run in certain situations,” Delaney said. “Right now that’s something we’re working on. Different problems will come up during the season, but that’s the main one right now.”

The loss of attack Becca Wood and midfielder Jamie Blondina won’t help the Profs’ cause.

Wood, whose name shows up all over the university record book, is Rowan’s all-time leading scorer with 250 goals and tallied a single-season best of 83 in 2013. Blondina was second on the team in goals (33) and points (43) last season.

Despite the gaudy offensive numbers Wood put up, Delaney said that the hardest part about replacing her would be her effort on the defensive end. Wood holds the program record for caused turnovers with 83.

A strong point for the Profs, according to the coach, will be their goalkeeping.

Sophomore goalkeeper Erin Horner, a 2014 NJAC All-Conference honorable mention, returns after having played in 17 games with 16 starts. She comes off of a strong freshman year where she recorded 110 saves and ranked third in the NJAC in saves per game, sixth in save percentage and seventh in goals allowed average.

However, Horner will miss the start of the season with an injury. In her absence, freshman Emma Frost is being called on to step in.

So far Frost has filled in admirably allowing 14 goals through the first two games of 2016. The Profs are 1-1 thus far, with the win coming over Ursinus College in the season opener.

The next game for the team comes Wednesday at No. 17 ranked Catholic University (0-2), a matchup that Delaney highlighted heading into the season.

“They’re top 20 in the country and they beat us last year. They’re a good team,” Delaney said. “They’re going to run and gun, they’re going to be hard all over body and they’re going to work us if we can’t get it together.”

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