Women's Lacrosse | February 14, 2019

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- Women's lacrosse starts their season with a new face at the helm in Katie Rhodes Abbott, who arrives in Philadelphia after five seasons as top assistant coach for Colgate. Abbott is joined by assistant coaches Allyson Heavens, entering her third season at La Salle, and Cat Rainone, in her first season. The team welcomes LIU Brooklyn on Saturday to open the 2019 campaign--first draw is at noon.

ABOUT THE EXPLORERS

• Five strong: La Salle ended last season on a five-game stretch where they went 3-2 with two of those victories coming at home. Overall, they broke even with a 4-4 record at McCarthy Stadium in 2018.
• The Explorers return four of their six top scorers from last season. Sophomore Bridget Ruskey was tied for most goals on the team in 2018 with 46, along with the most free position goals with 11; in her same class are Emily Johnston (third with 34 points) and Annina Iacobucci (fourth with 29 points).
• Along with her scoring output, Johnston notably led in another category: draw controls. Before last season, the most draw controls in a single campaign was set at 48 by Kristen Davis in 2005. Johnston smashed that record with 72 her freshman year. Ruskey also eclipsed the mark with 51. 
• Seniors Isabel Caddick, Ashley Blanton, and Courtney Shoults all tallied highly in various other categories. Caddick finished with 31 ground balls, second on the team, while Blanton and Shoults followed her with 30 each. Shoults also ranked second on the team with 24 caused turnovers.
• New faces: the Explorers bring in a freshman class of seven girls, including Lucy Emptage (midfield), Amanda Farnsworth (midfield), Erin Welsh (attack), Sydney D'Orsogna (midfield), Madison Hamilton (midfield), Kelli Kazmarek (goalkeeper), and Rachel Block (defense).

SCOUTING LIU BROOKLYN

• This will be the fifth all-time meeting between the Explorers and the Blackbirds. La Salle have the edge with a 4-0 record, outscoring LIU 69-30 since their first meeting in 2013.
• Most recently, the Explorers won last season's matchup 16-12. Johnston and Hope Smith both found the back of the net twice, while Mikki Raymond assisted on three goals. Frankel recorded six saves.
• In 2018 LIU finished with a 3-13 overall record, while going 2-6 in away games.
• They return three of their five top scorers from last season. Twin sisters Amanda and Rachel Masullo finished second and third on points--Amanda with 43 (led the team in goals with 31) , Rachel with 37. Junior Bianca Santucci also finished above the 30-point threshold with 28 goals and three assists.
• The Blackbirds also retain both of their goalies--Sam Kidd and Virginia Gibbons--whom they rotated often throughout games. Kidd normally started (12 to Gibbons' 4), but the former logged 481 minutes while Gibbons clocked in at 479 minutes.

IN CONCLUSION

Coach Abbott referenced a game-by-game mentality when talking about the season moving forward: "We're pretty young right now so we're focusing a lot on the process of getting there. We have some process goals that we're looking to hit, some benchmarks as we go, but really just looking to get better every game. If we can do that, we'll be hitting our goals."