Tatios pens success start to Rustin lacrosse

By STEVEN MOORE

Two seasons ago, the West Chester Rustin girls lacrosse team fell just short of a berth in the championship game. So did the University of Pennsylvania.
This year, the Golden Knights reached the final, but had to settle for silver. So did the Penn Quakers.
Next spring, Allison Tatios’ presence will be felt at both schools. And she’s hoping both teams can finish the job.
“For our school, we made a name for ourselves and really got our name on the board,” Tatios said of Rustin, which reached the District 1 Class AAA final in just its second year of existence. “Our girls next year are gonna be something to watch too.”
It will be a short drive to Franklin Field for anyone who wants to watch Tatios next season in her freshman year at Penn. But the mark that she left at West Chester’s newest high school will be visible forever.
And that’s why Tatios has been named The Daily Local News’ 2008 All-Area Girls Lacrosse Player of the Year.
The future Ivy-Leaguer scored 62 goals and added 50 assists as a senior at Rustin, surpassing 200 goals in her three-year varsity career, which included a spot on the DLN All-Area first team as a sophomore at West Chester East.
“There were plusses and minuses about it,” Tatios said of the move that saw her trade in her Viking red and yellow for the blue and gold of the Golden Knights. “The positive was we were given a second chance to reprove ourselves, and we had to make it farther this year with our whole team back.”
That team surged out to a 5-0 lead in the first five minutes of last month’s championship game against Radnor. While the Red Raiders eventually pulled out a 15-11 decision to cap a perfect season, Tatios scored four goals to put an exclamation point on her high school career, which included a Ches-Mont League title and first-team All-American honors from U.S. Lacrosse.
“I’m normally a one-on-one player, that’s probably my strength,” Tatios said. “I know going into college that’s not gonna work, so this year I tried using my players to my advantage, especially because I was being face-guarded all the time. So I tried to use my space better, and use my speed to just keep the flow going in the offense.”
When she committed to Penn last summer, Tatios passed up a dorm room on the other side of town at Drexel for an Ivy League education and a spot with the Quakers, who last reached the national semifinals in 2007 and the national championship game in 2008 – falling to Northwestern on both occasions.
“I never really thought I’d have the chance to do Ivy League. I talked to girls who were recruited with me, and they were between Brown, Princeton, Penn, schools like that,” Tatios said. “I was getting looks from Syracuse, Drexel, Delaware. My final choice was Penn and Drexel, and I knew that if I went to Drexel, I’d always look across town and wonder what could have been at Penn.”
Tatios realizes that she’ll have to get even better to earn playing time as a Quaker. Penn head coach Karin Brower covets speedy midfielders like Tatios, confident she can turn them into anything her team needs.
“I’m gonna have to definitely make a new name for myself, the girls are awesome,” Tatios said. “Out of the seven recruits, four are All-Americans. Their motto is they recruit midfielders, because you can change midfielder into anything. They want you to have speed.”
In addition to daily conditioning and skills work all summer, Tatios will find some time for the shore with her family before moving to University City in late August, where she will room with fellow All-American freshman Erin Brennan, from New York. Tatios will enter Penn with no declared major, but is interested in graphic art and design.
Tatios also has designs on helping the Quakers reach the next level. And considering the mark she left in just two years at Rustin, it would be a surprise if she didn’t make that come true, as well.