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Women's Lacrosse April 3, 2014

Clarkson Women's Lacrosse Preview - vs. Rochester/RIT

Starting a stretch of seven straight home games, the Clarkson University Women's Lacrosse team is about to get very used to playing at Hantz Turf Field. The Golden Knights will play those seven games in 16 days, and it all begins this weekend when the Green and Gold take on the University of Rochester and the Rochester Institute of Technology in a pair of Liberty League contests.

The Golden Knights, 3-5 overall and 0-2 in conference play so far, played one-goal games against the two teams last year, beating the University of Rochester 13-12 and closing out the regular season with a 17-16 loss against RIT.

Rochester (4-2 overall, 0-1 Liberty League) holds a 24-2 edge all-time against the Golden Knights, but Clarkson has won the last two games, including last year's tilt. Then freshman Christine Wright (Watertown, NY) had a strong game, scoring seven points on five goals and two assists to go along with four groundballs and four draw controls. For the Yellowjackets, Sarah Skinner had three goals and an assist, which is close to her entire output this year. However, Skinner is contributing in different facets of the game in 2014 as she is among her team leaders in groundballs (19), draw controls (17) and caused turnovers (9). The leading scorer for the Yellowjackets is Lauren Basil, who had a pair of goals in last year's game. Basil has 23 points on 18 goals and five assists and she, too, is among the team leaders in groundballs with 17. Jamie Wallisch has been a strong player for Rochester as well with 21 points on 12 goals and nine assists, tacking on 17 groundballs, 17 draw controls and a team-high 13 caused turnovers. Mara Karpp is the team's leading playmaker with 10 assists, but she has also scored nine goals. Rochester has seen a strong effort in goal this year from its goaltending tandem of Marissa Traina and Maire Prosak. Traina has a 5.72 goals against average, one of the top figures in the country, and is stopping shots at a 56.0% rate, while Maire Prosak has a 6.04 goals against average and a 48.0% save rate.

RIT is led by sophomore Sage Sarkis, who has been an offensive force all season long. Sarkis has 31 points on 27 goals and four assists, and has also gained 27 draw controls. As a freshman, Sarkis was a key player for the Tigers in the 17-16 win in 2013 as she scored nine points, including eight goals. Although Sarkis is far and away the team leader in points, the Tigers get plenty of contributions from other players, including Nicole Bingo (11 points, including nine goals) and Ashleigh Caruso (10 points, with seven goals). Kirsten Francis leads the team with 11 caused turnovers and has a team-best 17 groundballs in the open field. Goaltender Caitlin Conway leads the team in groundballs with 19, and has posted an 11.42 goals against average with a 45.5% save rate. RIT is 5-1 all-time against Clarkson, but the Tigers, since entering the Liberty League in 2012, have won the last two games by one goal each time. Clarkson's Christine Wright had an impressive effort against the Tigers in 2013 with five goals and an assist, and she also produced four draws and three groundballs.

Wright has missed a pair of games this year, but is still scoring nearly four points per contest this year with 12 goals and 11 assists. After losing a considerable amount of offensive punch to graduation, Clarkson has seen a pair of freshmen step up to contribute, led by two-time Liberty League Rookie of the Week Paige Fayette (Theresa, NY) and Ashley Flick (Watertown, NY). Fayette leads the team with 31 points on 24 goals and seven assists and is tied for first in groundballs with 19, while Flick ranks second in goals for Clarkson with 13. Sophomore midfielder Meaghan McKenna (Hamburg, NY) leads the team with 18 draws, and classmate Hanna Gleason (Massena, NY) has team-bests of 19 groundballs and nine caused turnovers.
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