Women's Lacrosse 2026 Season Preview
2/11/2026
Brown women’s lacrosse is set to begin its 2026 season at USC on Sunday, Feb. 15.
Head coach Katrina Dowd and the Bears will look to build upon a successful 2025 season that saw the team match a program-record with 10 wins and qualify for its first Ivy League and NCAA Tournament.
Dowd enters her third season at the helm with 20 wins with the Bears, the most through the first two seasons by a head coach in program history.
2025 Recap
Brown reached its highest-ever national ranking with No. 17 while earning 10 wins for the second-straight season under Dowd.
Brown’s 143 assists were the most in a single season in program history, its 244 goals matched the most in program history (2024). The Bears’ 387 total points and 541 total shots were the most in a single season in program history.
The Bears concluded the 2025 campaign ranking fifth nationally with 8.41 assists per game and sixth with 11.76 turnovers per game. Brown’s 22.76 points per game also ranked fifth nationally and its scoring offense ranked 20th in the nation with 14.35 goals per game. The Bears’ clearing percentage ranked 15th nationally with a 92 percent success rate on clears.
The Schedule
Brown’s 2026 schedule features 14 games and six games at Stevenson-Pincince Field. The Bears' non-conference opponents are USC, Holy Cross, Jacksonville, South Florida, Boston University, Bryant, and Vermont. The Bears defeated Holy Cross, Bryant, and Vermont last season.
Ivy League play will begin against Cornell (Mar. 7) before concluding at Penn (Apr. 26).
The Bears will play three teams that reached the 2025 NCAA Tournament in Penn, Princeton, and Yale.
Key Returners
The Bears return 28 players who were on the 2025 roster, highlighted by three players who started all 17 games in Beth Anderson, Codi Johnson, and Riley Peterson.
Brown also returns three players who had more than 10 points last season in Adele Atherton, Anderson, and Peterson.
Last season, Johnson was named Second Team All-Ivy and Second Team IWLCA All-Northeast Region after accumulating two or more caused turnovers in five games. The Silver Spring, Md. native also had 15 ground balls and 18 caused turnovers.
Brown also returns Claire Mahoney and Anne Booth, who saw the bulk of time in goal for the Bears last season. Mahoney started 11 out of 17 games while Booth started six games.
The Newcomers
Brown’s class of 2029 features 11 student-athletes: Mackenzie Farley, Kathleen Denvir, Izzy Keyes, Sunnie Wang, Annie Dignazio, Kayla Davi, Caroline Nozzolillo, Tessie Batchelder, Amelie Devine, Fiona Vu, and Mackenzie Conway.
Read an in-depth look at the Bears’ class of 2029 here.
Preseason Noise
Brown checked in at No. 22 in the IWLCA preseason poll and at No. 25 in the Inside Lacrosse Preseason Poll. The Bears were also selected fourth in the Ivy League Preseason Poll.
Codi Johnson was named an Honorable Mention Preseason All-American by USA Lacrosse.
