WALTHAM, Mass. – The Bentley University women's lacrosse team is set to launch its 2015 on Thursday against Northeast-10 rival AIC. After having its originally scheduled opener postponed, the Falcons will head West on the Mass Pike to take on the Yellow Jackets for a 4:00 pm start.

The Falcons are coming off a 2014 season where they went 7-5 in the NE-10 and qualified for the NE-10 postseason under head coach Kerry Hausdorf, who was making her debut season.

Entering 2015 Bentley returns 14 players, eight of whom started double-digit games. Attacker Jackie Brown (Brookfield, Conn./Brookfield) is the team's leading returning scorer after she netted 32 goals last season, and dished out seven assists for 39 points. Sophomore Ellie Shuman (Nashua, N.H./Nashua North) is next on the list of returning scores after she recorded 17 goals in 2014.

The 2015 Falcons will be captained by a quartet of seniors; midfielder Amy Ernst (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris Central), attacker Jessica Ferrigno (Bridgewater, Mass./Bridgewater-Raynham) and defenders Kristi Albright (East Lyme, Conn./East Lyme) and Dani Petrunich (Westborough, Mass./Westborough).

Four other double-digit goal scorers return to boost the offense; Kelsey Howard (Scarborough, Maine/Scarborough), Hannah Lindgren (Southborough, Mass./Algonquin), Erin O'Connor (Longmeadow, Mass./Longmeadow) and Taylor Lunden (Agawam, Mass./Agawam).

Defensively the Falcons return two starters from a year ago in Petrunich and Albright. Petrunich started all 17 games and Albright started 15.

In goal, sophomore Lauren Ochs (Rochester, N.Y./Irondequoit) is set to take over for former All-American Ally Dorman.

On the schedule, the Falcons open at home against Dowling on Sunday in a non-conference match before heading south to Florida for two games.  The first game on March 10 is against NE-10 rival Stonehill, followed a tussle with LIU Post.  Bentley then returns to the Northeast for three straight road games, starting with a conference game at Southern New Hampshire on March 14. The road trip also features a game at Adelphi, the defending Division II national champions, on March 25.

The Falcons then return home on March 28 to open a five-game home stand against Le Moyne. The home stand will also see Assumption, Southern Connecticut, Saint Michael's and Saint Anselm visit. The regular season ends on April 25 with a home game against Merrimack.

The 2015 Northeast-10 Playoffs get underway on April 29. The top-six teams in the final standings qualify.