Here’s how Rowan ‘bought into’ producing a record season and an NCAA lacrosse tourney berth

After Rowan finished last season with just eight wins, Molly Green knew the Profs needed to be better.

Green won the New Jersey Athletic Conference’s Rookie of the Year award in 2022 and its Midfielder of the Year award in 2023 and 2024. But despite her individual success and the lacrosse team’s 14-win season in 2023, the Profs had not appeared in the NCAA Division III tournament since 2018.

At a team meeting at the end of last season, Rowan coach Lindsay Delaney asked Green and fellow rising senior Hannah Lombardo to address the team. Green was not shy about her frustration regarding the team’s inability to reach the postseason.

“I’m honestly embarrassed that I’m about to be a senior and I’ve never played in the NCAA Tournament,” Green said.

It was in that meeting that the 2025 season started. The No. 23 Profs finished their 2025 schedule 15-3, besting the program-record mark for wins set in 2023. After a 16-12 loss to the No. 12 College of New Jersey in the NJAC championship, the Profs received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Rowan has taken the tournament by storm, knocking off Western Connecticut in second-round play, 20-5, setting program records for goals in a tournament game and the fewest goals allowed. Elaina Corson, a junior attack, erupted for 10 goals for the Profs.

Wins in a season? How about 16, the most in school history. Next up, third-round play against Wesleyan (Conn.) on Saturday in Waterville, Maine (2:30 p.m., NCAA.com).

“Anything we laid out as what we thought was a good path to the NCAA Tournament and something that was doable for us, they bought into it,” Delaney said. “They’re reaping the rewards of that at this point.”

Delaney, who has led Rowan to the NCAA Tournament seven times since taking over as coach in 2008, calls Green “one of the best players to ever wear our uniform.”

“There are game changers, there are program changers, there are role players, there are a variety that come through your program,” Delaney said. “[Green] was a program changer. We knew that.”

Green prefers to lead with her play on the field rather than her words. But when she was vocal about her disappointment with the Profs’ 2024 season, the message resonated with her teammates.

“I was vulnerable with my team, which I’m usually not,” Green said. “I think everyone really got the message when I was as emotional as I was in a meeting like that.”

Green’s words in the offseason were backed up by her play on the field this season. Across 18 starts, she netted 40 goals and 18 assists. She caused a team-best 47 turnovers while turning the ball over just 12 times. She was named to the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association All-Region first team in each of her first three seasons — and is an All-America hopeful this year.

“When she talks, everyone listens,” Delaney said. “She’s earned the right to hold players to a standard because she holds herself to the same standard.”

Because of that standard, Green and the Profs are showcasing their talents in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in her final season.

Part of Rowan’s success can be credited to its continuity. Every player on last year’s team who had remaining eligibility returned for 2025. The Profs have benefited from a tight-knit team, brought together by last season’s struggles.

“They always knew they were right there last year,” Delaney said. “I think this year is vindication of all the pain they went through last year.”

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In Delaney’s eyes, the Profs’ inability to win games last season taught them how to win this season. In 2024, Rowan was 0-5 against teams ranked in the D-III coaches poll. This year, the Profs went 3-2 against top-25 teams, including an 11-10 win over No. 4 Franklin & Marshall, in which Green scored the winning goal with 27 seconds to play.

“You’ve got to go through the bad stuff to get to the good stuff,” Delaney said. “When we beat [Franklin & Marshall], I said, ‘You had to go through that to get through this.’”

Rowan has received contributions from its entire roster. Corson led the team with 72 goals in 18 games, the second-best mark in the NJAC. Katie Montenero won the NJAC Defensive Player of the Year award in her senior season. As a team, the Profs allowed 376 shots this season, 160 fewer than last season.

“All 27 of them [have] equal responsibility on the team for our team success,” Delaney said. “It takes 27 players to win. Whether they’re getting in games doesn’t matter, they’re there to prepare and to be ready and support their teammates.”

Because the Profs have not made an NCAA Tournament appearance since 2018, it is a new experience for the entire team. Only Delaney and her assistant coaches, Lindsey-Kate Smith and Nicole Valianti, have been to the tournament at Rowan.

“My job is to make sure that they know that it’s the start of a new season,” Delaney said. “Everyone wants the same thing you want.”

According to Delaney, Rowan is dealing with injuries to “significant members” of the team. Even with some players unavailable, the Profs will lean on their camaraderie to cover for any absences.

“In order to go far, we’re going to have to rely on each other,” Green said. “We’re going to have to get through games together.”

For the seniors and graduate students alike, the tournament takes on extra meaning. After sticking around through the hard times, they want to delay the end of their college careers as long as they can.

“Every game from now on could potentially be my last game,” Green said. “If each senior leaves it all out there, our teammates leave it all out there, that will ensure that it’s not our last game.”

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