WALTHAM, Mass. – The Bentley women's lacrosse team, ranked No. 13 in the IWLCA poll, will get its season going on Monday down in Maryland as they look to build on the success of last season.

The Falcons, led by 4^th year head coach Kerry Hausdorf, will play two games in Maryland this week to get the season started, before they open at home on March 11 against New York Tech. Monday's game is against No. 12 ranked Grand Valley State at 3:00 pm, and Wednesday's game is against No. 7 ranked Queens University at 1:00 pm.

Bentley is coming off one of the best seasons in program history in 2016. They tied a school record with 13 wins (going 13-6 overall), won a program record 11 straight games, and defeated rival Stonehill 9-8 in the Northeast-10 quarterfinals. That lifted the Falcons to the conference semifinals for the first time since 2012, where they saw their run ended by Le Moyne.

While several key players from that team graduated, a strong core remains. The team is backed by one of the top goalies in Division II in senior Lauren Ochs (Rochester, N.Y./Irondequoit), who is coming off a season where she was named a 3^rd team All-American and the Northeast-10 Goalie of the Year. Ochs has played every minute in goal for Bentley the last two seasons.

The team's attack should be led by senior Hannah Lindgren (Southborough, Mass./Algonquin), who topped the team in each of goals (43), assists (22) and points (65). Her points total was 10^th best in the NE10 last season, which helped garner her a 3^rd team All-Conference selection. Also returning offensively are seniors Ciara Morley (Irvington, N.Y./Irvington), Taylor Lunden (Agawam, Mass./Agawam) and Ellie Shuman (Nashua, N.H./Nashua North). Morley was 5^th on the team in goals last season with 20, while Lunden had 15 and Shuman 11.

Bentley boasts one of the top draw control takers in the NE10 in junior Kathleen Gillespie (Topsfield, Mass./Masconomet). Gillespie pulled down 65 draw controls last season to rank 3rd in the NE10, while she also notched 15 goals.

Defensively, Paige O'Neill (Amityville, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) was named IWLCA 3^rd team All-North Region and 2^nd team All-Conference for her sophomore season, which made her Bentley's first All-Conference defender since 2008. In addition to O'Neill, the Falcons have an experienced group playing in front of Ochs. Juniors Carolyn Cruise (East Greenwich, R.I./East Greenwich) and Erin Woods (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla./Ponte Vedra) both started all 19 games last season, and senior Tori Rotermund (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand) has played in 29 games the last two seasons after she played a career-high 16 last season.

Schedule-wise, the Northeast-10 remains as competitive as ever. In addition to Bentley, five other teams are ranked in the IWLCA Top-20 poll. That includes the No. 1 team Adelphi and the No. 3 team Le Moyne. New Haven (No. 11), Stonehill (No. 18) and Pace (No. 20) are the other teams that are ranked.

The Northeast-10 Championship will get underway on May 3, with the top eight teams at the end of the regular season qualifying.