Xeni Barakos joined the Albright women's lacrosse staff as an assistant coach in the summer of 2012.
The Lions went 8-9 in 2014 with a more difficult schedule than in previous seasons. Albright defeated Division II Colorado Mesa on the road and beat rival Alvernia 13-10, missing a Commonwealth Conference playoff spot by just one goal on tiebreakers.
The Lions totaled four All-Conference selections, while sophomore Amanda Smith added Academic All-MAC honors to her first team All-Commonwealth status. Rookie Giuliana Rizzotti was named Albright's Freshman Athlete of the Year and captain Meghan Wilson was presented with the MAC Giant Steps Award for her leadership and success following personal adversity.
In 2013, Albright went 10-6 in just its second varsity season. The Lions had three All-Commonwealth Conference selections, including the first player in program history selected to the first team (Smith).
In the year prior to joining the Lions, Barakos served as marketing assistant and director of girls' lacrosse at the nearby Body Zone Sports and Wellness Complex. As director of lacrosse, she ran the BZ Elite club organization along with all Body Zone lacrosse camps, clinics, leagues and tournaments.
Barakos was a four-year letter winner at Division II East Stroudsburg University (ESU), where she was named to the All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) team as a senior in 2011. She led the Warriors to the program’s first PSAC Tournament win since 1986 with an upset at nationally-ranked Gannon. In her four years, ESU won 39 games, the most in school history, and the 2008 and 2010 teams set school records with 11 wins.
She graduated from ESU with a bachelor’s degree in Media Communications and Technology and a minor in Communications Studies.
Barakos played high school lacrosse at Cocalico High, where she was a four-year varsity letter winner. In 2007, she was named Most Valuable Attacker, Most Outstanding Senior and a Lancaster-Lebanon League Section II All Star. In 2006, she led the team to a Lancaster-Lebanon League Championship culminating in a perfect 19-0 season. In 2005, she was part of the Section II Lancaster-Lebanon League Championship Team.
