WALTHAM, Mass. - The 2016 season gets underway for the Bentley women's lacrosse team on Wednesday afternoon at Dowling as the Falcons will look to make it five straight years qualifying for the postseason out of the highly competitive Northeast-10 Conference.

Picked to finish 5^th by the NE-10's 14 head coaches, Bentley returns a formidable roster that features seven of its top eight scorers from last season returning, in addition to All-Region goalie Lauren Ochs (Rochester, N.Y./Irondequoit).

The top three scorers that are back are all attackers; senior Kelsey Howard (Scarborough, Maine/Scarborough) and juniors Hannah Lindgren (Southborough, Mass./Algonquin) and Taylor Lunden (Agawam, Mass./Agawam). Howard was second on the team in points in 2015 with 37, coming on 23 goals and 14 assists. Meanwhile, Lindgren's 25 goals were good for second on the squad, while Lunden led the team with 16 assists.

A trio of high scoring midfielders are also back to boost third year head coach Kerry Hausdorf's squad in senior Erin O'Connor (Longmeadow, Mass./Longmeadow), sophomore Kathleen Gillespie (Topsfield, Mass./Masconomet) and junior Ellie Shuman (Nashua, N.H./Nashua North). O'Connor and Shuman were among the team's leading goal scorers last season with 23 and 16 respectively. While Gillespie was named to the NE-10 All-Rookie team after a season that saw her score 17 goals and rank among the conference's best in draw controls with 78.

Gillespie is one of Bentley's three returning All-Conference selections, with the other two being senior midfielder Meredith Hart (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) and Ochs. Hart had an impactful all-around season from her midfield spot in 2015 with 12 goals scored, 22 ground balls, 33 draw controls and 12 caused turnovers.

Ochs meanwhile established herself as one of the top netminders in the region. She played every minute between the pipes, while compiling 10 wins and 145 saves, which was fourth best in the conference.

Defensively Bentley returns three players who started at least 13 games last season, all of whom are sophomores; Carolyn Cruise (East Greenwich, R.I./East Greenwich), Paige O'Neill (Amityville, N.Y./St. John's) and Erin Woods (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla./Ponte Vedra).

Schedule wise after opening on the road with Dowling, the Falcons play their home opener on March 8 against Grand Valley State. After three straight games on the road following that tilt, including the NE-10 opener against Le Moyne on March 20, the team opens a two game home stand against Pace on March 22, followed by a visit from the defending NE-10 champions Adelphi on March 26.

The schedule in April sees Bentley's two local rivals. Stonehill visits on Wednesday, April 13 for a rematch of last season's playoff matchup, while a visit to Merrimack is on April 23. The regular season comes to a close on Saturday, April 30 with a home game against New Haven. The Northeast-10 playoffs get underway on May 4 with the quarterfinals, followed by the semis on May 7 and the championship game one day later.