Coaching Staff: Back for her sixth season with the Ladies, Head Coach Jacque DeMarco carries with her a combined 72-30 record from the past five seasons. In that same span, DeMarco's Kenyon teams won two North Coast Athletic Conference championships (2014, 2015) and two NCAC tournament titles (2014, 2016). She was twice named NCAC Coach of the Year and twice named National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year. She's coached two NCAC Players of the Year, as well as two All-Americans. Her teams have made two NCAA tournament appearances in the past three seasons. In addition to DeMarco's return, Assistant Coach Anna Crumb will once again be on the Ladies' sideline. Now entering her third season at Kenyon, Crumb's previous two seasons resulted in a combined 32-10 mark.

Last Season: The 2016 season saw the Ladies put together a late surge to win the conference tournament and claim an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament, where they defeated Elizabethtown in the first round and lost to No. 2-ranked Salisbury in the second. The national tournament win was the Ladies' first since the 2006 season. The Ladies earned the NCAA berth by chalking up 2-1 overtime victories against Denison in the conference semifinal and DePauw in the conference final. Overall, the Ladies went 15-7, which included a 10-4 third-place finish in the NCAC standings.

Team Makeup: The Ladies are a veteran squad, one that includes a strong senior class of nine. Three of those seniors—Shannon Hart, Sarah Speroff and Kelsey Trulik—earned All-Region honors last season. Speroff, the team's goalkeeper, was tabbed the 2016 NCAC Defensive Player of the Year and went on to reach All-America status. The three are also part of a starting lineup that went untouched by graduation. Overall, the Ladies made the transition to 2017 losing seven players, but no starters. Four sophomores also return and they are joined by a class of eight freshmen.

Top Returnees: This 2017 roster is stacked, so it would be wrong not to list every starter. However, in an effort to save time and space, we'll look at the top five. Speroff made 153 saves last season while posting a .845 saves percentage and a 1.24 goals against average. Trulik, who excels on the defensive end, added four goals and one assist last season. Hart didn't log a ton of countable stats in 2016, but she contributes up and down the field. In addition to those three, Katelyn Hutchinson returns as the team's top scorer after logging 11 goals and seven assists. Her running mate, Weezie Foster, is also back after racking up 10 goals and three assists.

Significant Losses: There were 23 players who logged game time for the Ladies in 2016. Seven of those players did not return. Those seven, however, combined for just three goals, one assist and 14 minutes in goal. Bottom line for the Ladies is no significant losses, at least in terms of on-the-field production.

Team Strength: Depth. With the starting lineup untouched and a group of eight freshmen added to the mix, DeMarco and the Ladies have the luxury of spreading talent across the whole field and bringing in fresh talent off the bench. The depth also gives DeMarco the opportunity to tweak the lineup, getting the most from each position without sacrificing in other areas.

Potential Problem: It's very difficult to find weak spots with this team. That said, the Ladies can't get lackadaisical or complacent. Energy and intensity will need to match talent level, especially against top-tier conference opponents. Failure to bring those same levels in trap games against lesser opponents could cause the Ladies seeding problems come postseason.

Schedule Check: The list of opponents on the Ladies' 2017 schedule is identical to that of the 2016 slate. The order and location of games was shuffled up a bit, but the Ladies should have a good idea what's in store. An early measuring stick might be the September 2 game at Centre against a Colonels team that slapped the Ladies with their worst loss of 2016. That game will be part of a busy early-season run in which the Ladies play their first five games within a ten-day span. Also included in that stretch is the home- and conference-opener against Oberlin on September 5.