Hampden-Sydney College’s lacrosse team has started the 2018 season with a 3-2 record, its only losses coming to nationally-ranked opponents, including No. 1 Salisbury University. The Tigers and second-year Head Coach Jason Rostan have good to be excited for what they can accomplish this season.

“We’ve got 18 seniors,” Rostan said. “I think it’s the biggest senior class in the history of the program, and a lot of them have been starting or playing a lot for us for three and four years, so I think it’s one of the more experienced teams that we’ve had in a few years, probably in a long time, actually.”

Tigers fans will take note of some key returners that had historic impacts last season.

“Guys like Ian Levin, Hunter Brown are back, and they both broke some records on offense last year as juniors as far as points scoring,” Rostan said. “And Chandler Shaheen is a senior, he scored 55 goals for us last year, so I feel like we’ve got more experienced scoring coming back to this team than maybe we’ve ever had in a single year.”

The experience is all over the field for the Tigers.

“Kent Henry is a captain for us,” Rostan said. “He’s been a four-year starter and a preseason All-American as well, with Hunter and Ian, so it’s nice — we’ve got him to kind of anchor the defense.”

He is joined by a host of other seniors on defense.

“Our faceoff guy’s a senior,” Rostan said. “One of our top goalies is a senior.”

Wilson Booth is the senior who will be handling faceoffs for the Tigers.

“Wilson has taken draws for us for four years, since he was a freshman,” Rostan said. “Obviously, we graduated our senior, Jared Arntzen, last year, but Wilson basically split time with him last year. Wilson’s good. He’s competitive, and he’s tough, and I think he’s going to fill in nicely.”

Jake Brummett will also handle some faceoffs, and Rostan said the freshman is going to surprise some people early on.

After opening his tenure as head coach last year by leading the Tigers to an ODAC championship, an NCAA Tournament appearance and a program-record 16 wins, Rostan said, “It is nice to be coming back and to have a year under your belt, just a little more comfortable.”

The Tigers visit Randolph-Macon College on Saturday at 1 p.m.