PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle field hockey team returns to campus on Friday to begin preseason camp in preparation for a second straight Atlantic 10 Tournament bid, contested the first weekend of November at the University of Massachusetts. The Explorers return nine of 11 starters from last year's team, including their top six scorers.

Head coach Michelle Marks, the reigning A-10 Coach of the Year, enters her fourth season at the helm. She will lean on a pair of three-year starters in seniors Becca Chylack and Neelam Kumar.

"We, as a coaching staff, are very excited to get the season underway," Marks said. "Our players have put in a lot of time and dedication last spring and this summer and continue to improve daily. The next few days of preseason will be a good test and opportunity for our players to continue developing and prepare us for  opening weekend in California. We have put together a competitive non-conference schedule that will lead us into A-10 competition with the goal of  qualifying for the Championships.”

"Coming off a good season last fall, I speak for the entire team when I say we are all very excited to get camp started and to kick off the season in California," Kumar said. La Salle will begin its season on the West Coast with a three-game trip beginning at Stanford on August 24.

"We are usually nervous heading into preseason but ending last season was a bitter sweet moment for us. It was awesome to make A-10s but we don't want to settle for just qualifying. We want to be A-10 Champs and we have an enormous amount of potential to do so," Chylack said. 

"We understand that the hard work and effort that take you to the postseason starts with the preseason," she continued.

The Explorers will have 14 days of preseason before taking on Stanford.

Check back to GoExplorers.com in the next few weeks for a complete season preview along with video courtesy of GoExplorers.tv.