No. 23 Rowan women’s lacrosse advanced to the Sweet 16 following their 20-5 win on May 11 over 17-2 Western Connecticut State (WestConn) in the second round of the NCAA Division III Women’s Lacrosse Championship tournament. The win over the wolves for Rowan (16-3) marked their first in an NCAA tournament since 2008.

A special day for the program also came on Mother’s Day in front of a crowd of over 200 people. Senior captain Hannah Lombardo’s mother was one of those people in attendance, and she says this made her team’s win feel even more special.

“My mom said to me herself, the best and the biggest mothers day gift that I want is for you guys to win this game,” Lombardo said. “I think that goes to show the support we have from our families and our parents. We are playing for something bigger than ourselves.”

It was career day for junior attacker Elaina Corson, as she scored 10 goals to break a Rowan women’s lacrosse single-game record. She scored six in the first half, the second time she’s done that in her career.

With her ninth goal of the contest, Corson passed former Rowan attacker Maddie Bray (2016-19) to put herself into second place on the all-time scorers list for Rowan women’s lacrosse. Corson now trails Becca Wood (2012-15), who finished her career with 250. The junior has continued to chase Rowan history with her 190th goal, and Head Coach Lindsay Delaney is noticing.

“She’s a finisher. Becca [Wood] was one of our goal scorers. She was fierce, competitive, and fast. Maddie [Gray] was finesse and beautiful. Elaina is a combination of both of them,” Delaney said. “One of the finest attackers ever. She can find the back of the net easily.” 

Wood was the last player to have a single-game goal record for the Profs when she scored nine back in 2013. Corson scored her tenth and record-breaking goal with just two seconds left. She is now four goals from breaking a single season record (83).

“Everyone was trying to get me to score at the end. I’m like why? I didn’t even know that I was getting there,” Corson said. “I wanted to put a statement on this game to say we deserve to go to the sweet 16.”

Rowan was coming off eight days of rest following their NJAC Championship loss to No. 13 The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). It’s just the second time this season Rowan has had more than a week off between games. It led to a fire-powering start, where the Profs soared to an 11-2 lead midway through the second period and never looked back.

The last Rowan Women’s Lacrosse NCAA tournament victory was back in 2008. They defeated Montclair state 17-6 at their old home in Coach Richard Wacker Stadium in Glassboro. 17 years and four days later, they got that same feeling again under Delaney. 

The 20-5 victory marks the most goals Rowan has ever scored and the least amount of goals they have allowed in an NCAA tournament game. Sophomore attacker Alexis Lowry also notched a career-high four goals. It’s a season full of program bests as the Profs historic year continues.

“I think all the work that they have put into the season got us to this place where we have shown that we could have this type of performance,” Delaney said. “It’s a culmination of a full season’s worth of effort put into one game.”

Lombardo had high praise for the offensive attack.

“Our team works so hard for each other off-ball,” Lombardo said. “We are the most selfless attacking unit and I think that’s really why every single person on the attacking end is able to score, not just one or two people.”

Lombardo added a goal in the fourth period to go with her four draw controls and strong defensive day. Rowan won the draw control battle 16-11 that helped lead them to a 28-11 shot on goal differential.

“If we don’t have possession, we can’t score. I said from the beginning of this game that possession was going to be key,” Lombardo said. “Me, Sophia [Schiavo], and Molly [Green] were really locked in. The communication that we had boxing out for each other and winning that possession was crucial. I think that we completely dominated it.”

When WestConn did get possession, the Profs defense stepped up. They held a Wolves team, averaging 14.0 goals per game, to their second lowest scoring game of the season.

“I think just staying disciplined,” Lombardo said. “We knew that this team was going to come out scrappy and really aggressive. We just said stick to what we know and stay disciplined and try to limit the fouls. I think that we really did that and that’s why they[WestConn] only had five goals.”

This win ended a five-game skid in the NCAA Tournament for the program dating back to 2009. Delaney reflects on how far the team has come in just the last two seasons.

“We were 8-11 last year and we are going to the Sweet 16 this year,” Delaney said. “That’s all. Off to Maine we go.”

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