Rowan women’s lacrosse celebrated Senior Night with an offensive spectacle in front of a packed crowd in Glassboro, defeating the Montclair State Redhawks 21-7 on Wednesday, April 23.

The Profs honored their six seniors, Calista Burke, Molly Green, Sydney Helmick, Hannah Lombardo, Katie Montenero, and Sophia Schiavo pregame, as each senior received a framed photo of themselves. Green, along with junior Elaina Corson, got the Profs’ offense going, with Corson running through a bunch of Redhawks for the game’s first goal, and her 60th of the season.

Then, Green, who’s shattered a ton of Rowan records through her four years with the team, added to the total, as she recorded a hat trick before the initial 15 minutes were up, with the final goal splitting the legs of Redhawks’ goalkeeper Joey Grotkopf on a penalty shot. 

Green wouldn’t be the only Prof to tally a hat trick either, as junior Fiona Lockhart, Burke, and Corson all followed shortly after with one of their own. Then, sophomore Alexis Lowry poured in a hat trick in the second half. Despite it being a mix of Senior Day, and the Profs final home game before the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) playoffs, it was business as usual for the players.

“It’s been an emotional week because I never want to let this go,” Burke said. “I knew that business had to be taken care of so I kind of swallowed them down and now after the game some emotions are definitely going to come back out.” 

“I think we were trying to keep the emotions out of it. We knew it was a big game going into NJACs, going into Saturday, so we were trying to keep the emotions out of it,” Schiavo said. “I think it just pushed us forward and knowing that the seniors, like we’re all so close I think that translated into today’s game and helped us come out with a win.”

The Profs continued to play their relentless and confident style of lacrosse that got them to this point of the season, leading the Redhawks 14-4 at half. The offseason expectation to return to the national tournament has turned into aspirations of winning a national title. 

The only way teams contend for and win national titles however, is being strong on both offense and defense and luckily for Rowan, they’ve showed they can be dominant on both sides. All season, the defense has quietly performed while the offense took the headlines behind the dominant Corson, Burke, Green, and Lockhart, but defenders like Schiavo know the defense will be given the chance to flex their muscles with the postseason right around the corner.

“We go against the best everyday, and I think that’s what prepares us the most coming into these crazy games,” Schiavo said. “I think all season the coaches have prepared us with intense games but, going into playoffs I think the defense knows it’s been an underlying message that the game comes down to us and we have to give our attack the most opportunities to perform.”

Montclair held strong in the second half, but head coach Lindsay Delaney didn’t think the Profs took their foot off the gas. Instead, played smart.

“We were playing clock lacrosse. We wanted to do possessions. We weren’t winning the draw as much as we wanted even though Hannah [Lombardo] had complete control of the draw but they were fouling us off the draw circle,” Delaney said. “Knowing that means you wanna work the clock as much as possible so we were calling them to slow the ball down and not go as fast.”

This group of seniors represent one of the most talented classes in program history amidst one of the best seasons in their history, as the Profs entered this matchup 13-1 and were ranked sixth nationally in the most recent NCAA Power Index (NPI) following their upset victory over Franklin & Marshall last week. Their lone loss was in overtime against Scranton back in March. 

The group represents overcoming adversity and believing in their full capabilities. Despite a disappointing campaign in 2024, with continuous close losses, they found the necessary groove and belief in one another to perform how they were always capable of performing after returning the majority of last seasons starters. Delaney had as high of a praise as a coach can have for a group of seniors.

“They’re program-changers, and there’s no real better compliment I can say then that,” Delaney said. “Most of these young kids here today are here to watch them, support them because they volunteer their team to coach them. So what they’re doing for our program today will pay all dividends 10, 15 years from now when these little ones are out here because of them.”

Rowan gears up for what could be a preview of the NJAC final, as they head to Ewing, NJ to clash with The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) Lions on Saturday, April 26. The Profs have had this matchup marked on their calendar and feel prepared for the task at hand.

“I think that we just need to stick to our system, it’s worked this whole year,” Burke said. “We stay disciplined and we get the end goal we want, and that’s just what we need to bring into this Saturday.”

“We’ve been hearing up for it this entire year. I think they’re ready for it, I feel think were one of the best teams in the country and we can compete against anybody and that includes TCNJ,” Delaney said.

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