Albany, NY—The Sage College's department of athletics gathered to recognize and honor the outstanding performances of the 2016-2017 year with the naming of the athletic award winners for the 15 varsity athletic teams. In addition to awarding the Gator Award, for the Most Outstanding Player, the department also named the 2016-2017 Female and Male Athletes of the Year. Senior women's soccer and women's lacrosse player, Monica Koralus (Verbank, NY/Millbrook) was named as the 2016-2017 Sage Female Athlete of the Year, while also earning acclaim as the Gator of the Year in women's lacrosse.
Head women's lacrosse coach Lauren Marois talked about Monica, "She has been a remarkable athlete to coach the last four seasons." She continued, "She is an ideal student-athlete, captain and teammate. She is a student-athlete that is always striving for more in the classroom as well as on the field. With breaking almost every single-season record last year, Monica exceed my expectations by excelling and having an even better senior year. She was a huge contributing factor to the team's success. Her passion, dedication, hard work and motivation are what made her shine. Monica's legacy has been embedded in this program and all her love and effort will continue to be seen through her teammates and future players. She will be greatly missed."
The Sage Colleges' women's lacrosse team was saluted by the Skyline Conference on Tuesday with the announcement of the 2017 women's lacrosse all-star team. The 2017 Gator lineup under the guidance and direction of second-year head coach Marois, enjoyed the most successful season in the program's nine year history that wrapped with the team garnering the first post-season appearance as well.
Along the way, Koralus captured her second straight selection to the Skyline Conference All-Star First Team selection. After almost knocking off No. 4 seeded Mt. St. Mary College in the 2017 Skyline Conference Tournament last week, Sage's season came to an end with record of 7-9. Along the way, the team reached new high-water marks for success that included seven wins, five wins in a row and a spot in post-season play, all Sage women's lacrosse firsts.
Koralus wraps her stellar career as the women's lacrosse team's all-time leading scorer. On the 2017 season, she led the team in scoring with 69 goals and 16 assists, good enough for a program-best 85 points, all Sage single-season records. She added 234 points on 182 goals, 52 assists and played in a school-record 56 games. Over the course of the year, she earned Skyline Conference Player of the Week honors twice, while also landing on the honor roll three times. Her 69 goals scored led the league as well, while she was third in goals per game (4.31) and third in points per game (5.31). She was also third with her 3.06 ground balls per game average, while ranking fourth with her 4.19 draw controls per game average.
She was also a member of the women's soccer program as well having excelled on the pitch for four seasons and helping the Gators to post-season appearances in women's soccer every season. She wrapped her soccer career having played in 70 career games with 17 points as a midfielder.
