Women's Lacrosse | 2/21/2014 3:15:00 PM

ROCHESTER, NY – With a handful of young talent set to return along with plenty veteran experience, eighth year head coach Jeff McGuigan hopes to guide the 2014 RIT women's lacrosse team back into the Liberty League Tournament for a shot at the league championship. In 2013, the Tigers finished with a 10-6 record overall and came up just one win shy of making the conference tournament.
 
"I feel that we're right there [in the Liberty League]," said McGuigan. "There are some games we're going to have to play really well in, but at the end of the year when we finish up with Vasser and Bard, those could be two games where we determine if we're in the playoffs or not."
 
Despite the loss of RIT's all-time leading scorer Shelby Vakiener (Fairport, NY/Fairport), the Tigers return four of their top five leading scorers from last season, including Sage Sarkis (Honeoye Falls, NY/Honeoye Falls-Lima), Marlee Vlassis (Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse Minoa), Ashleigh Caruso (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) and Holly Leone (Centerport, NY/Harborfields).
 
In her freshman campaign, Sarkis finished second to Vakiener in scoring, netting, an RIT first-year record, 49 goals and racking up 60 total points. Sarkis kicked off her collegiate career with six goals against Guilford, and went on to earn a Liberty League All-Conference second team honor by seasons end. She was an excellent compliment to Vakiener and looks to continue her offensive dominance in her sophomore season.
 
Vlassis comes off a sophomore season where she recorded 24 goals of her own. Her 13 assists were second on the team in 2013 making her valuable to the success of the offense this season since she can not only can score, but spread the ball around to her teammates. Vlassis enters the season just one point shy of 100 for her career.
 
Leone, a sophomore, will have an increased workload offensively for the Tigers after scoring 21 goals last season. She is another young returner for RIT who has a bright future ahead of her.
 
Add in those young offensive talents with the veteran captain Caruso, who had 29 points in 2013 on 22 goals and seven assists, and the Tigers have the makings of an attack that can score a lot, if they can work together.
 
"We have some girls back who are proven scorers and they're going to have to really step up," said McGuigan. "We also have to have some parity, and there has to be seven offensive threats." 
 
Caruso is joined by fellow captains Caitlin Conway (Landisville, PA/Hempfield), Cori VanKerkhove (East Irondequoit, NY/Eastridge) and Eva D'Ignazio (Swarthmore, PA/The Agnes Irwin School), who all bring great leadership and collegiate lacrosse experience, that will help the Tigers stay poised in a competitive Liberty League conference. Vankerkhove and D'Ignazio will be anchors on the Tigers defense, while Conway will take over the duties in net. Last season Conway appeared in six games, making 14 saves.
 
Although those returners will be important pieces for RIT, McGuigan worked to bring in some newcomers who look to have a hand in the team's success as well.
 
Freshman Sydney DaCosta (New Bedford, MA/Bishop Stang) will be an offensive threat at midfield for the Tigers as she played four years of varsity lacrosse at Bishop Stang High School, finishing her career with 58 goals and 52 assists. Nicole Bingo (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) joins DaCosta as an offensive specialist at midfield as the Rochester native scored 40 goals in 15 games in her senior season at Webster Schroeder.
 
Gwen Neuhaus (Woodbridge, VA/Potomac), Alex Kambourelis (Ballston Spa, NY/Ballston Spa) Claire Foggo (Windham, NH/Central Catholic) and Casidhe Kunichika (Fullerton, CA/Marina) are four other newcomers for the Tigers, all of whom are representing RIT in a second sport. Neuhaus was part of the 2013 RIT women's soccer team, while Kambourelis was a member of the 2012 squad. Foggo played on the 2013 women's volleyball team, while Kunichika played for RIT's Division I hockey team in 2012-13, and with a hockey background, looks to be a physical player on the Tiger defense.
 
The Tigers also added a new goalie to the roster in Elizabeth Hughes (Williamsville, NY/Williamsville South), after losing four-year starter Katelyn Crane (Palmyra, NY/Palmyra-Macedon) who's athletic eligibly wrapped up in 2013.
 
With the majority of RIT's new faces having prior college athletic experience, they certainly have more experience than what the roster shows.
 
"We got in some great freshman, one being an excellent offensive player," said McGuigan. "We also added a couple good defensive players, and a backup goalie."
 
The Tigers begin their 15-game, 2014 regular season with a home contest against SUNY Oswego on March 6. A few weeks later RIT will head down in West Palm Beach, Fla. over the spring break and take on Middlebury College on March 25, and SUNY Potsdam on March 27.
 
The Liberty League portion of the schedule will kick off with a home game against crosstown rival Rochester on March 29. The Tigers take on last year's Liberty League Champion Rensselaer at home on April 11, and wrap up their regular season on the road against Vassar on April 26.
 
"What our goals are leaning towards this year are pretty simple," said McGuigan. "We are focusing on having better goalie play, better defensive play with some schemes in it and offensively having some parity. If we focus on those things we think it can lead to even loftier goals as the season continues."