Women’s Lacrosse Poised to Reclaim Skyline Title Despite Key Losses

Written by Andrew Capitelli (SJC-LI Sports Information)

Patchogue, NY| When fifth-year head coach Bob Vlahakis leads the St. Joseph's College (L.I.) women's lacrosse team onto the Danzi Stadium field on Saturday afternoon for the side's season-opening match against the University of Rochester, he'll be without five founding members of the program that graduated as Skyline Conference Champions in 2015.

"We've lost more talent than any team in the conference," Vlahakis remarked. "Between the five seniors (including Nicole Lyman, who returns in 2016 as an assistant coach after establishing four program records including starts, caused turnovers, ground balls and draw controls) we graduated a total of eight Skyline All-Conference selections. But we're also retaining a lot of firepower and are looking to get back to the conference final."

Most notably Vlahakis returns all-time leading scorer and senior captain Heather Ferchland (190 goals, 219 points), who finished second in the conference in goals scored (62) last season. The three-time All-Conference First-Team selection will be joined in midfield by Second-Team selections Jessica Cordano (Sr.) and Kristin Carroll (So.), who contributed 32 and 40 points, respectively, in 2016.

"Cordano enters her final season second all-time in ground balls, third in assists and fourth in career points, and Carroll, who was a Second-Team selection as a freshman, is poised for a breakout year," added Vlahakis. "Those two in the middle with Ferchland make up the spine of our squad."

Up front Meaghan Haber returns for her junior season one year removed from a 24-goal campaign in 2015. The Old Westbury transfer will line up in attack alongside returners Tricia Barrett (19 goals) and Jenna Kelleher, who potted 25 goals as a freshman in 2014.

Vlahakis also returns a plethora of experience along the backline, with seniors Nicole Danisi, Kelly Walsh and Brianna Mascia reprising their roles. Junior Nikki Robinson, who started in four games last season, claiming 10 groundballs, will be expected to help fill the hole on defense left in the wake of Lyman's departure.

Among the newcomers, freshman keeper Lindsay Ramos will get the starting nod, while freshman attacker Nicole Stoppelli will round out the contingent up front.

"Lindasy is critical to our success," said Vlahakis. "She'll come in and start right away. Stoppelli should also step into a starting role. She looked very good in the fall."  

Despite welcoming back 14 members of last season's championship team, Vlahakis acknowledges depth could hamstring his side should injuries mount.

"Staying healthy will be key," he said. "Mount St. Mary returns its entire team, and Farmingdale always reloads and is expected to be dangerous. If we suffer some injuries, we could be middle of the pack. The way we play, we need fresh bodies coming in and out. I'll utilize all 20 players on a game-to-game basis."

2016 Skyline Conference Preseason Poll

Team ('15 Record / '15 Skyline Record), Pts. (first-place votes)
1. St. Joseph's-Long Island (14-5 / 7-0), 47 (5)
2. Farmingdale State (10-7 / 6-1), 44 (2)
3. Mount Saint Mary (7-10 / 5-2), 38 (1)
4. Purchase (11-4 / 4-3), 31
5. Old Westbury (6-9 / 3-4), 25
6. Sage (2-11 / 2-5), 16
7. Mount Saint Vincent (2-10 / 1-6), 13
8. Maritime (3-7 / 0-7), 10

Vlahakis also admits he and his coaching staff hope that new leaders emerge throughout March, with the side playing six non-conference matches before jumping into its Skyline portion of the schedule in April.

"It'll be interesting to see which players take over the leadership roles in the wake of our losses. We'll find out a lot about the team during the opening six-game stretch, which features a lot of tough contests. We can emerge without victories in those games, but take positives from the necessary strides we're hoping the group can make."

After Saturday's home-opener against Rochester, the Golden Eagles hit the road for five-consecutive road contests against FDU-Florham (3/9), Stockton (3/17), Hartwick (3/19), Washington College (3/23) and Muhlenberg (3/24).

SJC opens its Skyline account at home against Mount Saint Vincent on Saturday, April 2. On Wednesday, April 20 they'll face Farmingdale in a rematch of the Skyline Final under the lights of Danzi Stadium. The final regular-season game, which doubles as Senior Day, will be played against Purchase on Saturday, April 30 at 11:00 AM.