Women’s Lacrosse Set to Open 2026 Season
NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College women's lacrosse team is set to open the 2026 season with a schedule that balances early road challenges with a stretch of key home games during Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play.
The Mariners will begin the season away from New London, opening the year on Wednesday, Feb. 25, with a non-conference matchup at Wentworth Institute of Technology. Mitchell will then jump into GNAC action on Feb. 27 with a road contest at Dean College, marking the team's first conference test of the spring.
Mitchell returns home for its home opener on March 1, hosting Thomas College at Alumni Field. Conference play continues the following week when the Mariners welcome Saint Joseph's College (Maine) on March 6.
The schedule intensifies in mid-March as Mitchell heads back on the road to face Regis College on March 17 before returning home for a stretch that begins with a non-conference matchup against the University of Maine at Farmington on March 19. That contest kicks off a busy homestand that includes GNAC games against Albertus Magnus College on March 21, Rivier University on March 25, and Emmanuel College on March 28.
The Mariners will close out March with a conference road trip to Elms College on March 31 before opening April with another GNAC matchup at Simmons University on April 4.
Mitchell then returns to Alumni Field for back-to-back home games, hosting the University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) on April 8 and New England College on April 11. The final road stretch of the regular season includes trips to Lasell University on April 14 and Colby-Sawyer College on April 18.
The Mariners will close the regular season at home on April 22, hosting Norwich University at Alumni Field.
"I am excited for this season," said third-year head coach Kristin Ventresca. "We have added some talented athletes to the roster to complement a large base of returners. I look forward to seeing all their hard work pay off on the field this season."
Mitchell returns 11 players from last year's squad, led by junior midfielder Chloe Jennings (New London, Conn.), who finished with a team-leading 30 goals and 33 points last spring and earned GNAC Rookie of the Week honors. Fellow midfielder Lauren Cordero (Selden, N.Y.) returns for her senior season after scoring 10 goals and adding two assists in 2025, while senior goalkeeper Arrianna Stark (Schenectady, N.Y.) is back between the pipes after tallying 130 saves last season.
Additionally, the Mariners were recently selected to finish 13th in the GNAC Women's Lacrosse Preseason Poll, as voted on by the league's 14 head coaches.
The conference schedule will feature a round-robin format, with each team playing every other team once for a total of 13 games. The top eight teams at the end of the regular season will qualify for the 2026 GNAC Women's Lacrosse Championship Tournament, which will begin with the GNAC Quarterfinals on Saturday, April 25. The advancing teams will compete in the GNAC Semifinals on Tuesday, April 28, with the winners moving on to the GNAC Championship on Saturday, May 2. The champion will earn the conference's automatic qualifier to the 2026 NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Championship.
