Fewer than 30 players in the country have scored at least 28 times this season. The list of teams with two players who fit into that category is even shorter: There are only two.

So how about a team with not one, not two, but three players who’ve hit that 28-goal mark this season? There’s only one: Drexel.

Northwestern's Izzy Scane and Lauren Gilbert near the top of the NCAA scoring charts, but with some of the nation’s most prolific scorers, Drexel is flying high with one of the best starts in program history. The Dragons are 7-1, owning the best record in the CAA and the No. 15 spot in the latest Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Top 20 heading into Saturday's game at Hofstra.

“We’re really focusing on playing our style of game and being proud of the product we put on the field in every game,” coach Jill Batcheller said. “They’re having so much fun playing lacrosse, and I think it’s just showing in the way they play.”

Drexel started strong in Batcheller’s second season in charge in 2020, running out to a 5-2 record before the pandemic shut everything down. When they came back to the field this spring, the Dragons picked up right where they left off behind a veteran group of returning leaders.

Between seniors and fifth-year student-athletes, the Dragons brought back 10 upperclassmen, and Batcheller said the leadership from those players has spread throughout the rest of the team, fueling this start to the season.

“It’s almost like having extra coaches on the field in the way they play,” she said. “When I first took over the program, they were really hungry for success, and they just show it in their actions every single day, working so hard and being really disciplined.”

Senior attackers Karson Harris (32) and Lucy Schneidereith (31) lead the team in goals, while senior midfielder Colleen Grady is nearing the 30-goal mark with 28 scores. Only eight games into their campaign, the three have already earned their share of accolades.

Grady — who ranks third nationally in points per game (6.5) and sixth in assists per game (3.0) — was named the CAA Player of the Week for her four goals and five assists in Drexel’s comeback win over Albany on March 25.

Schneidereith received the same recognition after powering the Dragons to two wins at the start of March, scoring five goals in an overtime takedown of St. Joseph’s and then eight goals against Georgetown later that week.

Harris, the conference’s leading scorer and draw specialist, was named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List on March 11, becoming the first Drexel player in 10 years to earn that distinction.

“We’ve really built our offense around playing fast and aggressive,” Batcheller said. “We really pride ourselves on having all seven attackers be able to go to cage and be confident in what they do within our system, and I think that’s why we’ve had such high-scoring games.”

Saturday's game against Hofstra will be Drexel's first conference game of the season. An April 7 matchup against a Navy team with one of the country’s top defenses (averaging only 8 goals allowed per game) should be another exciting test.

Grady, Harris and Schneidereith are the centerpieces of an offense whose improvement has mirrored the upward trajectory of the program itself — the Dragons 16.6 goals per game this season is more than double what Drexel averaged five years ago.

Batcheller saw an opportunity when she accepted the job in July 2018, with the program’s location in Philadelphia, a prime recruiting area. This season, the signs of growth around Drexel are clearer than ever.

“When I first got here, they wanted to win and they wanted to be a strong program,” Batcheller said. “It’s been the best challenge. They’ve matched their on-the-field discipline, their buy-in to the system and trust in each other with how much they want it. I think that’s why we’ve been doing so well.”