WEST BABYLON, N.Y. (June 8, 2020) – Mercy College women's lacrosse senior Talia Stagnitta (Patchogue, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) has been named a recipient of the East Coast Conference's (ECC) John Smillie, Jr. Award. Also receiving the honor are Carly Banks from Molloy College and Courtney Bernard from Daemen College.
This award is given in honor of former New York Tech Athletic Trainer, John Smillie, Jr., who passed away after battling cancer. The John Smillie, Jr. Award is given annually to a student-athlete or student-athletes who have overcome personal or physical challenges and hardships to pursue their intercollegiate athletic careers.
Early in the 2019 season after the first handful of games, Stagnitta was working hard at practice when she stepped awkwardly while pushing a fast break in a 5v4 drill. There was no contact but the pain was not mistaken by her as she had done this to her right knee during high school. She immediately knew that she had torn her ACL.
The MRI also revealed medial and lateral meniscus tears. After her surgery, she was in the training room every day working to get ready for next year but that wasn't all. She was still a leader on her team. She took on the role of a student coach and was there supporting her team and coaching up the defensive players getting them ready for each opponent. With her help on the sideline, the team was able to achieve its goal of winning the conference tournament for the first time, leading to another NCAA Division II tournament berth.
Fast forward into the summer, physical therapy was going well with strengthening however, she still was unable to fully straighten her knee. Her surgeon ordered her an extension brace that she religiously wore. Stagnitta was going to PT at home all summer as well on the days and would also drive up to Mercy from her home on Long Island to get PT from the Mercy training staff. Through all of this, it was determined that she would need to go in for a second surgery to clean out the scar tissue.
After the surgery, her range of motion improved. However, she still was lacking in full extension. She spent countless hours working to get her range of motion fully back. Then right before the school year started, she tragically lost her brother.
At the beginning of the 2020 season, she was given the okay by her surgeon to go back to full participation even though she was still lacking the full range of motion. Despite all of this she was ready to go for the first game of the season and was back to being one of the toughest defensive players in Division II.
Stagnitta appeared in and started in 67 games with nine goals, 11 assists, 191 ground balls, 116 caused turnovers and 123 draw controls. She currently ranks first in program history in caused turnovers, is second in ground balls and is fourth in draw controls. She also holds the single-season school record for caused turnovers and ground balls.
She was named Third Team All-American, Second Team All-Region and First Team All-ECC in 2017. In 2018, Talia was tabbed First Team All-American, First Team All-Region, ECC Defender of the Year and First Team All-ECC. In 2019, she was named ECC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and was named ECC Defensive Player of the Week once. Stagnitta is an Exercise Science major and has been accepted into graduate school at Stony Brook University.
