Bentley Women’s Lacrosse Gets 2019 Season Started Wednesday at AIC
Waltham, Mass. – The Bentley women's lacrosse team will get its 2019 season underway on Wednesday afternoon with a road game against Northeast-10 rival American International. The game begins at 3:00 pm out in Springfield and can be seen on NE10 Now.
The Falcons will go into their first game of the season ranked 24th in the IWLCA Division II Poll. Captains Jillian Keegan (Burlington, Conn./Lewis Mills) and MaryKate Staines (Gaithersburg, Md./Damascus), both seniors, and junior goalkeeper Eliza Bresler (Newton, Mass./Newton North) will lead the team into the new season.
Bentley went 9-7 a season ago, and 8-5 in NE10 games. Four of those wins came against teams that were ranked at the time, which included a 14-13 victory over Pace, which was ranked 10th at the time.
A number of key players return from last year, including three of the team's four All-Conference selections in Bresler, and sophomores Julia Glavin (Ipswich, Mass./Ipswich) and Kate Schmal (Saint James, N.Y./Smithtown). Bresler was a standout in goal in her first season as the starter. She was named both second team All-Conference and All-East Region, while she posted the NE10's third best save percentage (.517) and fourth best goals against average (11.79).
Glavin burst onto the scene as a freshman and led the team in goals (47) and points (56), as well as draw controls and caused turnovers. Fellow attacker Staines had a breakout season last year, and was second on the team in both goals (25) and points (40), while she led the team in assists (15).
Keegan and Schmal will help anchor the defense in front of Bresler.
The NE10 is expected to be as competitive as ever with Bentley among six teams in the IWLCA's top 25, including the top two in Le Moyne and Adelphi. The top eight teams in the standings at the end of the regular season qualify for the NE10 Championships.
Following Wednesday's season opener, Bentley will play two straight non-conference home games against LIU Post on March 2 and New York Tech on March 9. After another non-conference game, at Mercy on March 16, they return to NE10 action with a home game against Assumption on March 19.
Some of the bigger matchups of the season see the Falcons traveling to Stonehill on March 23 and Adelphi on April 10, and consecutive home games against Merrimack on Le Moyne on April 16 and 20.
This season all Northeast-10 games, and all home games, can be seen live on NE10 Now, with a play-by-play broadcaster. The team's first NE10 Now broadcast will be against LIU Post on March 2 at 12:00 pm.