Lacrosse Guide 2018

t h e i n de p e n de n t s t u de n t n e w s pa p e r of s y r ac u s e , n e w yor k

TAKING CHARGE Lacrosse Guide 2018

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t h e i n de p e n de n t s t u de n t n e w s pa p e r of s y r a c u s e , n e w yor k Dear readers,

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Cover and inside photos by Alexandra Moreo Senior staff photographer Paul Schlesinger Senior staff photographer

Immerse yourself in “Taking Charge” — your guide to everything Syracuse lacrosse in 2018. Read features on players like Nick Mellen, who brings newfound patience to the defense after missing last season to injury, or Riley Donahue, who will maintain her role as an offensive focal point. Players like Jamie Trimboli and Asa Goldstock, who are expected to make improvements in their sophomore campaigns. Also inside is a graphic breakdown of diversity — or the lack thereof — in Atlantic Coast Conference lacrosse, an issue we’ll explore this season. Look back on the history of No. 22, a sacred jersey for Syracuse men’s lacrosse that’s yet to be awarded for the first time since 2005. On dailyorange. com, listen to our men’s lacrosse beat writers break down the season on a special edition of The D.O. Sportscast.

See you at the X. Thanks for reading, Andrew Graham, sports editor

inside GETTING COMFORTABLE Asa Goldstock was one of Syracuse’s top recruits last year. She’s still trying to figure it all out going into this season.

Page 5

BIG CAT Syracuse will lean on sophomore midfielder Jamie Trimboli to lead a young and inexperienced offense in 2018.

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WAITING GAME

After a late start to lacrosse, Nick Mellen has slowly found the balance between aggression and intelligence

By Josh Schafer

asst. sports editor

see page 4

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noticed were his feet.

Nick Mellen was working through a series of footwork drills during the summer before his freshman season at West Genesee (New York) High School. His two future coaches, assistant Bob Deegan and head coach Mike Messere, looked on as the rising freshman’s feet rapidly bounced off the dots beneath him.

Five dots were set up below Mellen in the same shape that would appear on a deck of cards. Players tapped each dot in a given sequence as fast as possible. Deegan watched Mellen blaze through the drill twice before turning to Massere.

“This kid is going to be a freshman?”

Deegan asked.

He was, and he’d only been playing lacrosse for a few months. After picking up the sport as an eighth grader, Mellen started as a freshman for a program that has won 15 state titles since 1981 and usually starts strictly juniors and seniors. He played varsity in lacrosse, football and hockey his freshman year, something Messere, who’s coached at the school for more than 40 years, couldn’t remember happening before. A year later, after his third season playing lacrosse, Mellen committed to Syracuse.

It all happened fast. That’s how things went for the first six years of Mellen’s lacrosse career, in which he started 16 of 17 games as a freshman with the Orange.

But the 5-foot-9, 178-pound defenseman’s sophomore season, one when he was tabbed a preseason Inside Lacrosse All-American, everything stopped. His career was put on hold due to an injury to the labrum of his left shoulder. Mellen had surgery in fall 2016, and he medically redshirted that season to fully recover. After spending his whole career trying to catch up mentally while being ahead physically, Mellen was forced to wait. It’s been more than a year and a half since Mellen played in a game, but now he’s healthy again.

“Looking back, honestly, I definitely gained something from (being out),” Mellen said. “It made me who I am as a player today, kind of started fire under my belt.”

remembered Mellen snatching a ground ball, darting toward the cage to draw a defender and dishing the ball off to an attack for a goal.

He did it again and again and again — four or five straight times before the opposing coach called timeout.

Mellen’s aggression made him the elite defender he was, but only when he controlled it. In a game against Fayetteville-Manlius in Mellen’s eighth grade season, he ran alone down the sideline. With no defender on him, he dropped the ball. He picked it back up, continuing down the field until the ball hit the turf again. When Mellen dropped the ball a third time, a defender challenged him for the groundball. Mellen trucked him and jogged to the penalty box to serve an unnecessary roughness penalty.

Once in the box, Howes turned to Mellen.

“You looked more upset because you were dropping the ball and took it out on that poor kid than anything else,” Howes said.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it,” Mellen replied.

A year later, Mellen strolled the sideline of a summer tournament in New Jersey with Howes and Deegan. Deegan quizzed Mellen on the rules, specifically how many seconds he had to enter the restraining box after crossing midfield. Mellen guessed 30. The answer was 10.

“It was weird,” Mellen said. “I didn’t know what lacrosse was, I never watched many games of lacrosse my entire life. I was always a football and hockey kind of guy. I mean, I don’t know, I guess they kind of showed me the light at a pretty late age, to be honest.”

In high school, Mellen slowly matured both on and off the field, his coaches said.

Deegan and Messere taught him the composure required in defense. The West Genesee defenders completed one drill called “Miyagis,” named after The Karate Kid sensei Mr. Miyagi. The drill teaches players patience and precision with their checks, just as Miyagi teaches Daniel to strike tactically in karate.

The drill simulates a defender throwing a check on an opposing player by having a teammate stand with his hands out at the width he would normally hold a stick. The defender then swiftly swings his stick through the gap between the teammates hand, usually in a figure-eight shape.

“IT WAS WEIRD. I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT LACROSSE WAS, I NEVER WATCHED MANY GAMES OF LACROSSE MY ENTIRE LIFE. I WAS ALWAYS A FOOTBALL AND HOCKEY KIND OF GUY. I MEAN, I DON’T KNOW, I GUESS THEY KIND OF SHOWED ME THE LIGHT AT A PRETTY LATE AGE, TO BE HONEST.” Nick Mellen

syr acuse defen der

Over the past year and a half Mellen’s had time to sit back and study the game that his high school coaches knew he could excel in, even if he didn’t understand it yet. Deegan addressed Mellen’s lack of experience in a banquet at the end of Mellen’s senior year. He knew the athlete leaving him was one of the best at the high school at the time. But he needed to play more.

“Your best days are ahead of you,” he told the Syracuse commit.

Three years later, Mellen has positioned himself to achieve the balance coaches have always wanted him to find.

•••

AS AN EIGHTH GRADER, MELLEN

became an integral part of the Camillus Middle School lacrosse team, a school in the West Genesee district, before he learned the game’s intricacies. The rules weren’t important yet anyway, considering Mellen played by his own set.

From the start, coaches gave Mellen a long pole and he played long-stick midfielder where he could utilize his athleticism and avoid the advanced stick work required on the offensive end. He could get beat and recover before the player had time to release a shot, said his former coach at Camillus, Eric Howes. He’d mastered the art of the recovery so well that Howes had to tell his other players not to copy Mellen.

They simply weren’t athletic enough to do so.

On faceoffs, Mellen played on the wing and his job was simple: Scoop the ground ball and run it down to an attack. In one game, Howes

Messere emphasized to his players that they are “surgeons, not woodchoppers.” Early on, Mellen chopped. He remembered his coaches preaching “aggression with intelligence,” meaning players should be aggressive, but think before they strike. It was a lesson Mellen always heard, sometimes followed, and never forgot.

As he moved from long-stick midfielder to close defense at the start of his sophomore year, his job became more complex. Often covering the best attack, Mellen was instructed

by Deegan not to slide off his man unless he was in certain situations. He was to counter his attack’s top move and force him to use his second or third dodge. He couldn’t run out and attack his opposition anymore, the players were too good. No longer could he succeed on aggression alone.

He needed to slow down.

“Nick had surgical strikes,” Messere said.

“He was tough because his aggressiveness,” Messere paused. “(Controlling his aggression) was hard, which was nice because he was one of those players you had to pull back all that time. … It’s easier to coach a kid like that than a kid you have to force and push out there.”

As Mellen grew into a lock-off defender, Deegan warned him not to be caught “bird dogging,” a term used often used by lacrosse coaches referring to a defensive player sagging off his man to chase the ball. In practice, Mellen knew his role, but in games, he wanted more. He pushed out toward the ball to try for a play that wasn’t his to make.

MISSING LINK Mellen’s 2016 caused turnovers would’ve ranked second on Syracuse last season

PLAYER, 2017 CAUSED TURNOVERS FOR SYRACUSE

THE FIRST THING THEY

SCOTT FIRMAN NICK MELLEN (2016)

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TYSON BOMBERRY

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MARCUS CUNNINGHAM

Before a game against Jamesville-Dewitt during Mellen’s junior or senior year, Deegan warned him not to take his eyes off its star attack. In the first quarter, he didn’t budge. But as the game carried on, Mellen wandered off his man and toward the ball handler, even if it wasn’t his assigned attack.

And as Deegan had predicted before the game, when Mellen turned back to locate the attack, he wasn’t there. Instead, he was catching a pass and burying it in the West Genesee cage.

Mellen looked to the sideline, where Deegan stood.

“Do you believe me now?” Deegan asked his star defender.

“He had to go through that,” Deegan said recently. “… He had to go through that happening to him before he realized, man, that can happen that quick.”

No matter how much Deegan told Mellen to counter his opposition, the young player still occasionally gave into the instincts that had made him prodigious in the first place.

When Mellen was a senior at West Genesee, he played in the Section III title game in the Carrier Dome against Auburn. Ball movement forced Mellen to cover the man with possession as he often did, only this time it wasn’t Auburn’s top attack. So, he hacked, hoping to jar the ball loose. The referee threw a flag. The ball was still in the player’s stick, so he swung again. The referee launched his second flag. Again, Mellen chopped. This time the ball hit the ground, along with a third penalty marker.

Mellen shrugged his shoulders in the box as both coaches asked a question everyone involved knew the answer to. He needed the ball by any means necessary.

The next day, Deegan and Mellen talked it over. Mellen apologized for his immaturity and called the play “stupid.”

Less than a year later, when Mellen knew he would start in Syracuse’s opener as a freshman, he sent a letter to Deegan. He thought back to the “patience with intelligence” phrase his coach had repeated so many times over the years. Deegan taught him the little things, not to exchange words with the opposing attack, but be a gentleman instead.

“He grew up a lot,” Deegan said. “Like everybody, it takes you awhile to figure some things out. He figured out this is what I have to do.”

In the game, Mellen played with a different demeanor. He led the defense with four caused turnovers. Two came off blocked passes, where he allowed the offense to decide what they would do with the ball before he made a play on it. He countered the attack just as Deegan told him to but didn’t always see him follow through on. On another turnover, he poked the ball out of the attack’s dangling stick. He didn’t scoop the ball immediately.

Instead, he tapped the ball around the attack and, this time, he scooped up the ball and carried it into open space.

•••

THE PAIN IN MELLEN’S LEFT

shoulder wouldn’t go away. He played the end of his freshman season, and even pressed through the beginning of the fall, with the injury still lingering. He decided on surgery, hoping it would fix the issue and he’d be ready for the spring.

Then, spring came. Still, he wasn’t better.

Finally, the athlete who had never had an

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8 injury of this magnitude conceded. He didn’t want to miss the season, but he understood this was the best decision for his career in the long run. So, he decided to be patient.

“It was tough, it was really crappy,” Mellen said. “I came in and my goal was just to, like, take over. My goal was to be the guy …

My freshman year going into sophomore year, I was hoping to be that leader on the field. I was hoping to be the guy that guys looked up to on the field, and that was taken away from me.”

Months before Mellen officially redshirted, Syracuse assistant athletic trainer Troy Gerlt forced him to do something Mellen never does: nothing at all. The best thing for Mellen to do, Gerlt said, was lay low and allow his surgical wounds on his left shoulder heal.

Once he was cleared for rehab activities, Mellen inched back to full strength. When healing from shoulder surgery, Gerlt said, it’s important to build the small muscles around the shoulder and lats to keep the shoulder intact. Mellen began with simple stretches and bodyweight exercises, some simulated the throwing motion he would need to rebuild into his muscle memory.

In one particular exercise, Mellen put both hands out about shoulder width apart and pulled his arms back, a standing row without the weight. He pulled, squeezing his shoulder blades together. The exercise helped build his lats and rotator cuff muscles.

He completed that exercise and “millions more,” Mellen said, laughing. From there, he worked his way to the weightroom, where Gerlt watched as Mellen churned toward his old self. Mellen progressed from the body weight rows to rows with a barbell, adding weight as strength increased.

The weight used to be the first thing players and coaches noticed when Mellen worked out. Former SU defender Scott Firman remembered Mellen pushing weight on-par with upperclassmen numbers before he ever donned an orange jersey. Mellen said he used to be someone that walked into the gym and “cranked out bench,” not really thinking about the importance of stretching.

He starts differently now. Before every workout, he stretches and gets his body loose before working in the exercises that have built his solid frame.

That spring, Mellen finally had a stick in his hand. Gerlt noted that he first threw short passes with a traditional lacrosse stick, which can be more than 20 inches shorter than the long pole normally used by defenders and that Mellen has always played with. Practicing with the short stick took unwarranted stress off his shoulder until he was ready for it.

Slowly, throughout the spring, the passes got a little longer.

Eventually, Mellen worked back to his old drills. He played wall-ball to keep his stick skills up, re-tuned his checks with Miyagis and utilized the ladder to regain the foot speed, which allows him to lock-off the other team’s top attack.

Around that time, in early-April and during his rehab, Mellen reached out to Deegan again.

“I go through every day thinking about the first practice coming up in the fall,” Mellen wrote. “I can finally suit back up. I believe I wouldn’t have the mindset if it wasn’t for everything you had done for me and said to me and for that I thank you.” jlschafe@syr.edu | @Schafer_44

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SETTLING IN

Asa Goldstock strives to emulate success of her ‘sister,’ an SU great

By Michael McCleary asst. digital editor

ASA GOLDSTOCK’S FIRST LOOK

into her lacrosse future happened shortly after she picked up a newspaper in late November 2010. The story that stuck out: a local name she knew well had committed to one of the nation’s top lacrosse schools. She headed to recreation league practice that day with a goal set for the years ahead.

“I just hoped I’d be on the newspaper the day I committed,” Goldstock said.

The name in the headline was Kayla Treanor.

She was a model for many lacrosse players in Niskayuna, New York, the Albany suburb where they lived, and eventually set a standard for success across the country. She became the alltime goals leader (260) at Syracuse, a mark that ranks sixth in NCAA history, and was declared the “greatest Syracuse player of all time,” by SU head coach Gary Gait. But none idolized her more than Goldstock, who’d been a recognized lacrosse talent since middle school.

Now a sophomore at Syracuse, Goldstock has admired Treanor since she was about 10 years old. Goldstock’s upbringing laid the framework for what would eventually be her future home. It elevated her to 2016’s No. 3 recruit and the topranked goalie, per Inside Lacrosse. Treanor and

Goldstock’s partnership created a family-like bond that follows Goldstock with every new step she takes and as she aims to mold herself into the player everyone predicted she could be. “(Kayla)’s everything,” Goldstock said. “I work so hard because I want to be half the player she is.”

“THOUGH AT TIMES IT WAS FRUSTRATING, SHE’S SO ATHLETIC, SHE SHINES THAT WAY SOMETIMES TOO.” Jenna Simon

syr acuse defen der

But, at SU, Goldstock’s numbers don’t tell the same story as Treanor’s did early in her career.

Last season, as a freshman, she ranked 51st in the country in goals-against average (11.96),

65th in save percentage (.412) and was often the last woman to beat on the scoring defense that ranked 55th out of 111 teams.

Coming to SU the same year as the shot clock changed the college game did no favors for her performance, said Halley Quillinan Griggs, the women’s editor at Inside Lacrosse and a former Syracuse player. This year, Syracuse added the No. 1 goalie recruit in the last recruiting cycle in Hannah Van Middelem. Though Gait said Goldstock is the Orange’s “No. 1” that SU will continue to play to if she’s “lights out,” he provided no guarantees that Goldstock’s job remains entirely secure.

“Anything can happen,” Gait said. “It’s lacrosse.”

The divide between her peers’ anticipation and her actuality was hard to understand for those who followed her earlier in her career, who spoke highly of her natural ability. Goldstock still had it. They could see it with her dazzling stick work as she soft tossed with teammates. She still cradled and twisted the ball in her stick pocket and made passes behind her back with precision.

Those close to Goldstock remember her see goldstock page 13

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LONE STAR Morgan Widner came from Coppell, Texas, to win draws at Syracuse

By Billy Heyen

asst. sports editor

MORGAN WIDNER HAD ATTENDED

Pine Cove, a Christian summer camp in her home state of Texas, her whole life. But in summer 2015 before her senior year of high school, her last opportunity to go to the camp, Widner couldn’t. She’d received a call from Syracuse asking her to come to a lacrosse camp more than 1,300 miles away.

Widner, at least initially, was devastated.

“When I first found out I had to miss Pine Cove I was bawling like a baby,” Widner said.

More than two years later, on a January day in Syracuse with more snow on the ground than she had ever seen in Texas, Widner laughed. Missing the summer camp for the SU lacrosse camp produced a chance to play for the Orange. And last year in her freshman season, Widner thrived from game one.

She started every game and tallied 156 draw controls, the most ever by an SU freshman and thirdmost in Syracuse history.

But Widner didn’t just have a strong freshman season. She didn’t have an offer from Syracuse until the summer before her senior year, extremely late in the early-recruiting world of lacrosse. And she did it after growing up in Texas, a state not known for its lacrosse prowess. Widner is one of two athletes from Texas in the pool of 269 rostered players in the Atlantic Coast Conference, along with Duke’s Charlotte North.

When Widner first started playing sports in elementary school, she said, she was unaware that lacrosse even existed. By the fifth grade, she was playing competitive soccer with her friends.

Two of the friends’ dads, whose sons played lacrosse, decided to introduce their daughters to the sport. The fathers didn’t have much more background in the sport than the girls, so they learned together.

The parents found an introduction to lacrosse book with a 3-on-2 drill called “West Genny,” made famous by West Genesee High School, a lacrosse powerhouse in the greater-Syracuse area.

“None of us knew a thing,” said Jill Widner, Morgan’s mother. “About how it worked, how the game worked, how the rules worked, none of us … It was just brand new.”

Widner didn’t take draws when she first started playing lacrosse. She and her parents didn’t really know anything about college lacrosse or the recruiting process, either. Widner was a “strong and fast” defender who possessed raw talent but didn’t have anyone to coach her in the nuances of

lacrosse. All of the above changed with the arrival of Molly Ford.

Prior to Widner’s freshman year of high school, Ford, a three-time All-American at Georgetown, arrived to coach club lacrosse in Widner’s hometown of Coppell. “(Ford) was young, she was pretty, she was fun,” Widner said. “… It was like a superstar had come down to coach us.”

“I WOULD SAY THERE’S A LITTLE BIT OF A CHIP ON MY SHOULDER. I THINK IT’LL STAY THERE WITH ME FOREVER ... THERE’S THIS INTERNAL DRIVE TO JUST DESTROY THOSE TEAMS.” Morgan Widner

syr acuse sophomor e dr aw specialist

Once Ford arrived, Widner realized that a world beyond Texas high school lacrosse existed.

Widner still wasn’t taking draws when Ford arrived, and that didn’t change for two seasons. But during her junior year, Widner began to take draws as “an opportunity to do something new,” and remembers taking to the process immediately.

Widner’s newfound skill didn’t change the lack of interest from colleges, though. Most schools didn’t have spots open for Widner. They’d already filled their recruiting classes for that season.

She and her father, Bob Widner, had seen her friends make recruiting videos, so they made a video and sent it to 15 schools. Only Princeton showed any interest, but the Tigers never offered Widner a spot.

“We recommended her to a bunch of different coaches,” Ford said, “A lot of them were like, ‘Hell no, we don’t see potential, it’s not going to work out.’”

And no one would be looking to Texas for lacrosse talent. Widner would have to go to the schools to make them notice her.

She and her parents became “friends” with Southwest Airlines, her father, Bob, said, flying out of Dallas to camps all over the country. They visited Princeton, Stanford, Duke, Florida and more. Widner said that only five days went by in the summer before her senior year where she didn’t play lacrosse.

Most interest remained limited. Coaches had full recruiting classes or they couldn’t see past the rawness of Widner’s lacrosse skillset. But back home in Texas, one of Ford’s old teammates from Georgetown was laying the groundwork for Widner’s shot to play at Syracuse.

Maggie Koch played goalie at Georgetown as Ford’s teammate. In spring 2015, Widner’s junior year at Coppell, Koch was the head coach of the girls’ lacrosse program at the Episcopal School of Dallas. And when her team played Coppell in Widner’s first full season as a draw taker, ESD got “crushed,” Koch recalled. Unbeknownst to Widner, Koch had spent her time between Georgetown and Dallas as an assistant coach for Gary Gait at Syracuse. Koch gave SU a call soon after seeing Widner play.

“I thought Syracuse would be open to checking her out because I think they’re second to none in player development,” Koch said. “If a kid does something well, then they’ll enable her to do it even see widner page 13

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SHAPING UP

Danny Varello has spent his whole life trying to turn himself into a faceoff specialist

By Matt Liberman staff writer

DANNY VARELLO RACED TO

midfield from the Syracuse sidelines, leading a charge of nearly the entire team. Those on the field tackled freshman midfielder Jamie Trimboli, whose acrobatic goal captured a 12-11 overtime win against Duke in the Carrier Dome.

Varello reached the dog pile mobbing Trimboli, and leapt on top. Trimboli’s game-winning goal made him the hero in SU’s fourth-straight one-goal victory.

But it was Varello that won the possession for the Orange that led to the victory.

“You’re as good as your last faceoff,” Varello’s father Joe constantly preached. “Very few people in a lifetime will be in a moment like that.”

Varello was just a freshman, and a backup to Ben Williams, Syracuse’s greatest faceoff specialist in history. But several times during the 2017 season, the SU coaches called on their freshman specialist for a lift in crunch time.

Williams struggled during the middle of the season, after injuring his shoulder. When SU needed something different Varello offered it, Syracuse head coach John Desko said.

Williams has since graduated, and Varello, a sophomore, is now the lead faceoff specialist for a young team searching for its first Final Four in five years, the longest drought ever for a Syracuse team since its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1979.

“BEN’S MY BIGGEST ROLE MODEL. I LOOK AT BEN, I’M LIKE, HOW CAN I BE THE PLAYER HE IS?” Danny Varello

syr acuse faceoff specialist

records for faceoffs won and groundballs picked up in just three seasons. Williams was the “physical specimen” of the team, Joe said.

He was the strongest and the fastest, and the player everyone wanted to transform themselves into. Varello didn’t just want that, he needed it.

“Ben’s my biggest role model,” Varello said last season. “I look at Ben, I’m like, how can I be the player he is?”

The position is perhaps the most physically demanding in lacrosse. Williams fit the mold perfectly.

“You look at Ben compared to any athlete, his muscle tone, his strength, speed,” Joe added, “you’re comparing (Danny) to an Adonis.”

•••

WITHIN THE FIRST YEAR OF VARELLO’S Varello faces a demanding challenge, replacing an All-American in Williams. The twotime Tewaaraton nominee broke the program

soccer career, Joe realized it was not the sport for his son. Rather than playing the game with touch and finesse, a young Varello would track down his opponents and knock them over. see varello page 15

WHO’S

According to Syracuse Athletics, the trad wearing No. 22 began in 1983 with Sun from 1984-87, and Gary Gait made the Syracuse’s greatest-ever players, Gait r during his four-year career. Since Gait, o gaps in between the number’s appearan out for just one or two seasons, while o been used to reward an already establis recruit. But to start the 2018 seaso At least

GARY GAIT 1987 - 1990

Gary Gait was the first player to make the No. 22 famous in Syracuse lacrosse. Gait came to SU in 1987 with his twin brother, Paul. He led SU to four Final Fours and played in two national championships. While bearing the 22, Gait tallied 253 points. His 70-goal sophomore season is the most by any SU player ever in a single season, and his 192 career goals ranks first all-time. Gait was a three-time All-American. Since Gait wore No. 22 the jersey has been passed down to the leader of the offense.

GOALS:

POINTS:

253

192

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS:

2

MICHAEL POWELL 2001 - 2004

Michael Powell was the third Powell brother to wear the No. 22. He wore the jersey all four years, tallying 307 points, the most ever by an SU player. Powell led SU to four Final Four appearances, including a runner-up performance in 2001 and two national championship victories in 2002 and 2004.

Powell was a four-time All-American at SU and is the only player to ever win the Jack Turnbull Award, given to the best attackman in the country, four times.

GOALS:

POINTS:

307

150

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS:

2

SPONSORED BY

NEXT?

dition of Syracuse’s top offensive weapon Ho Lee. It continued with Chris Baduini e jersey famous from 1988-90. One of racked up a program-record 192 goals only eight players have worn No. 22, with nce. Some years, the jersey was handed other players wore it for full careers. It’s shed SU veteran, or attract an incoming on, Syracuse doesn’t have a No. 22. not yet.

DAN HARDY 2005 - 2009

In 2005, No. 22 didn’t get awarded after the graduation of Michael Powell. In 2006, Dan Hardy was given the honor, and his chest bore the double twos all four years he was at SU. In Hardy’s time with the Orange, Syracuse had one of its most dominant stretches of all time, winning two national titles and making three Final Fours. Hardy also assisted on the game-winning goal in the 2009 national championship game, his last with SU.

GOALS:

POINTS:

136

83

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS:

2

JORDAN EVANS 2013 - 2017

The most recent player to wear No. 22 for SU, Jordan Evans put up solid numbers in his time at Syracuse. The Nike/U.S. Lacrosse No. 1 overall high school prospect in the Class of 2013, Evans was given No. 22 as a freshman and wore it all four years he was with the Orange. Evans’ junior season was by far his most productive. He scored 27 goals, four more than his three other season totals combined. Although he never won a national championship, SU made the NCAA Tournament every year Evans was at Syracuse.

GOALS:

POINTS:

76

50

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS:

0

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FOCAL POINT

After SU’s worst season in 8 years, Riley Donahue returns as an offensive leader

By Nick Alvarez staff writer

BEFORE A RECENT PRESEASON

practice, Riley Donahue jogged over to a group of teammates on the Ensley Athletic Center’s turf field. A Syracuse captain for the second-straight year, she situated herself among a sea of blue and white Nike shirts. Music blared through vaulted ceilings and Donahue, clad in an orange long-sleeve shirt, led the team in stretches. In the back of her mind, she tried to move past last season.

On the turf field in Ensley with her teammates, eyes were drawn to her. Her bright orange shirt made it impossible not to stand out, even though she would’ve preferred to blend in. Since committing during her junior year of high school, she transformed from a midfielder on West Genesee (New York) High School’s team to an auxiliary scoring option in one of the best offenses in Orange history.

“She’s not picky about shooting,” said Kevin Donahue, Riley’s father and assistant coach on SU’s men’s team. “She likes the team to score … Individual things don’t mean anything to her.”

Due to the graduation of program-greats Kayla Treanor and Halle Majorana two years ago, 2017 was different. It marked the first time in Donahue’s lacrosse career that she was expected to be her team’s top offensive weapon. The added pressure resulted in her best season.

She led SU in points (68), goals (42) and assists (26) for the first time. She was named a Tewaaraton Nominee, an All-Conference Tournament player, and an Inside Lacrosse All-American Honorable Mention.

However, it wasn’t enough to save SU from its worst campaign in eight years. A year in which SU tied its third-lowest win total (15) in the Gary Gait era and suffered its first-ever home loss in the NCAA tournament, a 21-10 thrashing by Boston College.

Donahue has always been a team-first player. Her personality lends itself to her pass-heavy, unselfish style of play. Those around her, from family to coaches, and even Donahue herself, mentioned how seamlessly she can transition into any role within an offense.

As a junior she totaled 20 more points than her nextclosest teammate — Emily Hawryschuk with 48 — and, at her current pace, she’s primed to break into Syracuse’s top-10 point leaders. She knows she’s expected to lead No. 9 Syracuse’s comeback campaign and not only thrive offensively but produce the wins against top-tier teams that eluded the Orange in 2017.

“She’s going to do whatever is asked of her,” Gait said. “… Riley is certainly a go-to player, and she’ll continue to do that.”

Since Gait took over as head coach 11 years ago, the best Syracuse women’s teams were always led by a star.

Treanor, Majorana, Tee Ladouceur and Katie Rowan carried the program to the national spotlight and kept it there. Donahue said she believes she can be SU’s focal point without registering as one of the top goal-scorers in the country.

Those star players represent Syracuse’s best years to date, years that will be overshadowed in the era of Maryland Terrapin dominance. Syracuse has lost to UMD 10-straight times, and the Terrapins have ended the Orange’s season four times in the last five years en route to winning three national championships.

In 2016, Gait said Donahue can “quietly play her game and put up some unbelievable numbers,” and she did.

“SHE’S GOING TO DO WHATEVER IS ASKED OF HER… RILEY IS CERTAINLY A GO-TO PLAYER, AND SHE’LL CONTINUE TO DO THAT.” Gary Gait

syr acuse head coach

In Donahue’s freshman season, her first-ever as an attack, she was third on the team in goals (28) behind Treanor and Majorana. A year later, she netted 47 goals despite taking 21 fewer shots than Treanor, who led the team with 50 scores. While Donahue’s point total plateaued last year, she said she doesn’t think more points will necessarily lead to more wins.

At West Genesee, Donahue developed the ability to make an impact in lieu of stuffing the box score. As a forward on the ice hockey team, she described herself as a “facilitator.” On the lacrosse field, she was a midfielder who ran the offense like a quarterback. She never led the team in goals. Instead, Donahue would score the goal that swung the game’s momentum, said Marissa Hudgins, a former teammate who has played with Donahue since they were both 6 years old. Hudgins currently

plays at Brown.

In the New York Class A semifinals her senior year, West Genesee battled Pittsford and won 10-9 in triple overtime. Daniel Hallinan, an assistant coach for West Genesee, remembered Donahue won three draws in a row, scored back-to-back goals and assisted on a third.

The game-winning goal came off a Donahue assist.

“She grew into her ability to be able to know what she had to do in each moment,” Hudgens said.

That skill, Donahue’s lacrosse IQ, came as a byproduct of growing up in a lacrosse-obsessed family. In addition to Kevin, three of her uncles and two of her brothers played for Syracuse. Most recently, her brother Dylan graduated in 2016. Both Dylan and Collin, her eldestbrother, brought her along when they practiced and shot with her afterwards.

Refining her shot in her spare time became Donahue’s norm. After her own high school practices, she took a bucket of balls and waited for her teammates to join her. Donahue doesn’t know if her most important tool, her passing, spawned from always passing the ball around with her brothers, but she admits it didn’t hurt.

“A lot of things are second-nature to her,” Dylan said. “She’s the type of player that can mold to whatever offense she’s in. It’s more of her figuring out where her team needs her to be.”

Gait asked Donahue about a potential switch to attack during her first Syracuse practice and the freshman jumped at the idea. Donahue excelled on the left wing while Treanor sliced up defenses from all over and set records. Last year, Donahue was positioned on the right wing and used her lefty shot to pester defenders and earn free-position shots.

Syracuse won four one-goal games a year ago, and Donahue scored the game-winning-goal twice. Both goals came from the right side of SU’s attack. She showed glimpses of being the go-to player that can carry SU this year. When Donahue went through a shooting slump last season, she called Treanor, now an assistant coach at see donahue page 15

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LION’S SHARE Sophomore Jamie Trimboli is expected to lead a young Syracuse offense

By Charlie DiSturco senior staff writer

THE BIGGEST MOMENT OF JAMIE

Trimboli’s young career came at the end of his firstever start.

Last March, in overtime against Duke in the Carrier Dome, his teammate and redshirt senior Sergio Salcido drove toward the goal. Trimboli shuffled back, readying himself to catch the pass that eventually came from Salcido. Duke’s Sean Cerrone shoved Trimboli, who spun back toward the middle of the field.

He found himself alone, 15 yards out.

His whole extended family watched from the bleachers. His dad, Joe Trimboli, thought to himself: “You’re a freshman, do you really want to take this shot?”

Trimboli did not hesitate.

The shot beat Duke goalie Danny Fowler top shelf.

Trimboli pounded on his chest twice, screaming. Salcido tackled Trimboli and eventually everyone else piled on.

This year, Syracuse is not the experienced team it’s been in the past. It’s lost over half of the points from its starting offense last season. The two best players — midfielders Salcido and Nick Mariano — led the Orange with 51 and 50 points, respectively, en route to All-American seasons. Those two drew the long poles and most defensive attention, which allowed Trimboli to break out as a freshman.

“It’s different,” Trimboli said about his new role, “because last year I had two All-Americans on my line.

This year, I get a little more attention.”

Only three Syracuse players that ended last season as a starter return, and just one has played in head coach John Desko’s system for two years — junior Nate Solomon. For Syracuse to return to its dominant history, one that just graduated its first class without a Final Four appearance since 1979, Trimboli, a sophomore, will need to step up as a veteran midfield presence and a leader of the offense.

On last season’s midfield line, Salcido constantly joked Trimboli was the “lion cub,” since he was the only non-senior. Trimboli earned playing time early, and he was named the starter just seven games in.

Right before, Trimboli had the game-tying assist in an eventual overtime win at longtime rival Johns Hopkins.

Then he hit the Duke shot.

“He played a lot bigger than he talked about,” Salcido said. “He stepped up in times where we needed it. That’s where you get that lion-like, competitiontype mindset.”

This attention was nothing new for Trimboli.

At Greece Athena (New York) High School, he had been the star player. But the program was fairly new, Joe said, and the team struggled to boast a team as dominant as nearby powerhouse Victor (New York) High School.

In summer 2013, Joe stood on the sidelines, talking to other dads on Trimboli’s club lacrosse team, Sweetlax. Trimboli had just finished a strong freshman season at Greece Athena. Most of Sweetlax’s players played for Victor, yet had been unable to take home the state title. One of the dads mentioned that, with Trimboli, Victor “would win the states for sure.”

A few months later, after talking to his wife, Joe decided to sell his house and move. It was in the middle of Trimboli’s sophomore year right before lacrosse season began. The initial sale of the house fell through, but his dad knew the importance of playing lacrosse at Victor, so he moved himself and Trimboli into an apartment there while the rest of the family remained.

“HE PLAYED A LOT BIGGER THAN HE TALKED ABOUT. HE STEPPED UP IN TIMES WHERE WE NEEDED IT. THAT’S WHERE YOU GET THAT LION-LIKE, COMPETITION-TYPE MINDSET.” Sergio Salcido

for mer syr acuse lacrosse player

Leaving home meant leaving the place where Trimboli honed his skills. It was in the backyard of his house, where he’d work with his older brother, Joey, on mechanics. But Trimboli knew the competition level was much higher and Victor would be the best opportunity for him to develop as a lacrosse player.

For almost 15 months, Joe and Trimboli lived together in a “bachelor pad,” Joe joked. They drove the roughly 25 miles home on weekends to stay with the rest of the family. The decision to still move

allowed Jamie to compete at a higher level, as he soon developed into Syracuse’s top-ranked recruit in the 2016 class. “(Jamie) got to be better and here we are at Syracuse,” Joe said. “Jamie’s dream come true. This is what he wanted and it just worked out.”

At Victor, defenses honed in on shutting down Trimboli. His right hand and quick first step made him a hot commodity and often the center of opposing defense’s game plans. To limit Trimboli, the defense tried forcing him left.

With the added attention he was receiving, Trimboli found it to be the perfect time to work on dodging and shooting left. Joey would often watch his brother shoot right and then left, pointing out any differences in his shot.

“Everyone was trying to shut him off in high school and take away his right hand,” Joey said. “… Playing at Syracuse, he had to play with a left hand.”

The next step was using his left hand in games.

Because of Victor’s long-standing success — Trimboli made the state title game all three years he was there, winning his last two years — the team often won games handily.

When Victor took large leads, Trimboli decided to strictly play left handed. The repetition resulted in the midfielder becoming nearly ambidextrous, something the defense and analysts recognized right away upon his arrival to Syracuse. Mark Dixon, an ESPN lacrosse analyst, came away impressed with his ability to shoot on the run with both hands, and defender Tyson Bomberry initially couldn’t tell which hand his teammate was dominant with.

“If you had told me if he was a righty or lefty before we went out, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell you,” SU goalie Drake Porter said. “That’s how good he is down both alleys on the run … both are perfect form. … On the run he does have the best (off-hand).”

The ability to go left will be critical in Trimboli’s sophomore campaign. He’s no longer blanketed by two All-Americans. He will draw the attention of the longstick midfielder rather than a short stick defensive midfielder, which adds a new element to dodging and creating offense at the collegiate level. see trimboli page 15

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goldstock finest moments, the ones when she imitated skills Treanor used in post-practice shooting sessions with Goldstock since eighth grade.

They remember the clearing ability, the speed out of the net, the aggressiveness to attack the ball and push it ahead.

Yet the same tendencies to test her own limits that refined her elite skills and set her apart are the ones enabling her mistakes.

When Goldstock hit adversity for the first time at SU, Gait afforded her time to try and figure things out because, though Syracuse’s up-and-down performance reflected her adjustment to the college game, she always found herself nestled comfortably in the starting goalkeeper’s position.

But following the Orange’s earliest exit from the NCAA tournament in a year it qualified since 2006, the Orange needs more. And she expects it.

“I don’t think I’ll ever not think I could play better,” Goldstock said. “I know I can.”

•••

GROWING UP IN NISKAYUNA ,

Goldstock always knew of Treanor, because her lacrosse talent brought the spotlight to a close-knit community. The two first met when Treanor served as one of Goldstock’s coaches on her recreation league team, where Goldstock picked up playing goalie.

A converted attack from when she played in a boys’ league at a young age, Goldstock started making plays in and out of the net, in part due to her advanced strength and size for her age.

By the time Goldstock was in middle school, she had already found herself developing into the best goalie in her hometown.

In eighth grade, she won the starting job on the Niskayuna High School varsity team.

From her spot in goal, she spied then-senior and Syracuse-bound Treanor playing up the field. It seemed that Treanor noticed Goldstock, too.

“Kayla always had this great way of seeing players with great potential,” said Ritchie Assini, Treanor’s long-time friend and former teammate.

But with Goldstock, there seemed to be more. Treanor took Goldstock “under her wing,” Goldstock said.

Goldstock said she had a rough home life and didn’t have the best relationship with her father, L.J., whom she lived with in Niskayuna following her parents’ divorce at a young age. She lived with her father from age 10 to 16.

After the separation, Tiffany Moore, Goldstock’s mother, had moved about an hour north of New York City to Middletown, but Goldstock stayed in Niskayuna because

from page 6

widner better and improve everything else about her game around that special skill.”

It was very late in the recruiting process, and Koch got the sense that Syracuse wasn’t actively pursuing anyone else in Widner’s class. But SU invited Widner to a camp that summer and offered her a chance to play for the Orange by the end of July.

“In my heart I was like, ‘please don’t have her go to Syracuse because that’s so far,’” Jill Widner said of her daughter choosing the right school. “We’re big prayers … We had our whole church praying about it.”

Widner accepted SU’s offer by early August, just before her senior year at Coppell began. That year became one of necessary refinement.

Ford knew that Widner’s stickwork still needed improvement. For much a Widner’s senior year, she — a natural right hander — was forced to play with her left hand. It was a skill that many players develop to an extent when they’re younger, Widner said, but in Texas, there was no such youth coaching.

“It was so goofy, it was like a hot mess honestly for the first week,” Widner said, laughing.

After arriving at SU, Widner felt she proved a good learner. Her late start in lacrosse made her feel like a “whiteboard,” less locked

Middletown didn’t have lacrosse.

Goldstock still calls Moore her “best friend and biggest supporter” and said Moore has helped guide her through some of the biggest changes in her life, like swapping high schools.

Moore declined to be interviewed for this story and L.J. did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Orange.

So, Treanor began taking responsibility for Goldstock’s well-being on the field, Goldstock said. The senior would drive her to practice and keep her to shoot afterward as both players honed their craft.

CULTURE SHOCK Goldstock experienced great success in high school, but her stats dipped at Syracuse

High school: .630 SAVE PERCENTAGE

from page 5

Syracuse: .412

Treanor showed Goldstock every shot in her arsenal and the eighth grader began picking up skills. As their bond quickly became less of teammates and more of close family members, Treanor said the things they did for one another became less significant, because they were supposed to do them. They were “sisters.”

“With Kayla, her actions speak louder than words,” Assini said. “It might be hard to express with her words how much someone means to her. We’ll never get it out of Kayla how much Asa means to her.”

Treanor’s family eventually became the same to Goldstock, and she started spending large amounts of time at their house and slept there some nights. She “wasn’t really happy living at home,” she said, and eventually started living with the Treanors full time.

“I kind of just moved in,” Goldstock said.

“Now, I live there.”

Treanor’s home became Goldstock’s. In the bedroom the Treanors now call “The Dormitory,” Goldstock said there are two queen beds. One for Treanor, one for Goldstock. And for the rest of her time at home she stayed there before she set off for her new home in Syracuse. into bad habits and more easily molded by coaching. But she still wasn’t sure what her role would be. She had a discussion with Bob before the season in which she wondered if she’d be redshirted. He insisted that wasn’t “her purpose.”

Only 15 minutes before the 2017 season opener, Gait told Widner that she’d be starting.

Before that game, Widner found herself alone on the block “S” at the center of the Carrier Dome turf as her team headed to the locker room. She raised her head in prayer, something not unusual for Widner.

“It’s one of my favorite pictures because I think it genuinely explains just how an enormity Syracuse is to me and I’m just this little girl from Texas,” Widner said.

Widner won 16 draws in that game against Boston College, the second-most in a single game in program history.

That first game was a sign of things to come. Widner put up the seventh-best draw control rate per game (7.09) in the country during her freshman season.

Widner always knew, though, that there was still plenty she needed to work on. In a way, she was playing catch-up for the time and coaching she missed out on as a younger player.

So, Widner went home this past summer and spent more time being coached

by Ford. They worked on what happens after the draw — how to get from winning it to using her speed and attacking the

•••

NO ONE PLAYS GOALIE LIKE

Goldstock, those close to her who play the sport said. She insists she brings something new to the table even if it is a trait that scares some individuals.

“Doing flashy things like (throwing long clears) is pretty fun,” Goldstock said. “People take it too seriously sometimes, so it’s kind of fun to do things that people want to see.”

Those risks have paid off. In the Under Armour All-American game in her senior year of high school, she excited the crowd and the ESPNU viewers with a booming clear that made it all the way down field and into the pocket of an attacker who scored. Goldstock got the assist.

Treanor herself remembered playing Goldstock last season as an assistant coach for Harvard and Goldstock assisted on the gamewinning goal of an overtime game.

“Asa is part of the group that shattered the mold,” Griggs said, “where you now put your best athlete in goal.”

Goldstock was widely known of by the time she reached 10th grade. When she accompanied Moore and her brother, Griffen, for his visit to New Hampton (New Hampshire) High School, word that Goldstock was on campus reached Jenna Simon, the New Hampton varsity women’s lacrosse coach. She sat down with Goldstock hoping to pique her interest in transferring there. To bolster her case, Simon brought in then-SU pledges Allie Munroe, a current defender for the women’s hockey team, and Tyler Lydon, a former Syracuse basketball forward now in the Denver Nuggets organization, “just to say hi.”

Eventually, Goldstock transferred. At New Hampton, Simon saw the goalie’s natural ability that everyone seemed to rave about and that sometimes became her kryptonite.

Goldstock’s strength, which had always been a part of her game, sometimes led her to launch a pass three-quarters down the field after making a big save that would be intercepted.

“Though at times it was frustrating,” Simon said, “she’s so athletic, she shines that way sometimes, too.”

Goldstock’s tendencies led to turnovers more times than once and, in certain situations, she said, the coaching staff at New Hampton had to instruct her to “hold back.”

Occasional brilliance masked the mistakes and made it difficult to parse when a play was really too risky for Goldstock to attempt.

At Syracuse last season, despite starting all 22 games, she only played the full 60 minutes in 12 of them as Gait switched her in and out of goal. Her talents struggled to transition to the faster NCAA game as she let in 11 or more goals 13 times, including a season-worst 19 against Boston College in

the Eagles’ drubbing in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

When Syracuse exercised patience with her struggles, it asked Goldstock to do the same. On March 5 against Virginia in the Carrier Dome, Goldstock had one of her worst stretches of the season, allowing the Cavaliers to open the game by scoring fivestraight goals.

Gait motioned Goldstock to the sideline and she trotted over expecting the worst. She didn’t expect to go back in. On the sideline, she heard just what she expected to hear.

“Just watch,” she remembered Gait saying.

So, she did. She stood there and watched the defense as they settled in and reflected on the mistakes she made earlier. To her surprise, the reflection ended in less than 90 seconds. Gait inserted her back into the game after just spending just 1:21 on the sideline.

Her “three-second memory,” which she said helped her forget about the last play after a mistake, had to return.

When it was over, the Orange had won even though Goldstock allowed 13 goals in what she said was “one of the worst performances of her career.”

Looking back now, though, Goldstock maintained that win was one of her best moments in her time with the Orange.

After the excitement passed, she set off to watch film. She re-lived the mistakes she made. She noticed what she could’ve done better. She does this again and again, hoping it’ll eventually click.

•••

AT A RECENT PRACTICE ON THE

field at Ensley Athletic Center, Goldstock stood on the end line adjacent to the goal. She had just broken away from her warmup drills and surveyed the field where all her teammates stood in two vertical lines down each sideline, playing catch.

This was the place she’d always dreamed she’d be because of the person she’d dreamed of being. Treanor had always kept the doors to her home open for Goldstock to make it her own.

Her teammates tossed the ball back and forth, talking little and listening to the music thundering in the facility. Then, without context, Goldstock screamed “Go Cuse,” and it rang throughout the large complex.

Last season, she said, her inexperience hindered her from developing the leadership abilities vital to a goalie’s success. Treanor had always been an icon that Goldstock was honored to follow, but now it was time for her to become one herself. She needed her own voice, and she needed it to be heard.

“Being a goalie,” Goldstock said, “you need to be louder than everyone else.”

Syracuse needs it as much as she does. mmcclear@syr.edu | @mikejmccleary

TWO OF A KIND Widner is one of two players in the ACC from Texas, along with Duke’s Charlotte North. Out of 269 women’s lacrosse players in the ACC, these two make up .74 percent.

goal. Widner’s stickwork had always been the skill that needed to catch up, so even with no defenders on a field back home in Coppell, Widner worked on dodges and different types of shots.

“I would say there’s a little bit of a chip on my shoulder,” Widner said. “I think it’ll stay there with me forever, especially going against older girls, different teams, teams like Maryland, UNC. There’s this internal drive to just destroy those teams.”

When Widner was in elementary school, lacrosse wasn’t even on her radar. Now when she goes home to Texas, she sees first graders sporting shirts supporting North Carolina or Maryland lacrosse. Widner said she hopes she’s just one helpful push toward lacrosse’s relevance in her home state. She never had disciplined coaching infrastruc-

.74 PERCENT

ture at the youth levels. Now, young girls in Texas do.

“She plays for all those girls who were told at one point ‘you’re not good enough’ or ‘you missed the boat,’” her father said.

Courtney Anderson, a midfielder/ defender from Widner’s hometown of Coppell, is committed to play at Stanford next year. Megan Carney, an attack from Dallas, is committed as a member of SU’s 2018 recruiting class. But this year, it’s just Widner at Syracuse. She’s in a place, on a field, in a sport that she would never have imagined as a little girl.

“Being from Texas, us playing lacrosse so late, we didn’t even believe it was possible to play in college,” Widner said. “It was always like a dream.” wmheyen@syr.edu | @wheyen3

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DIVERSITY IN THE ACC In 2016-17, 88.6 percent of lacrosse players in the Atlantic Coast Conference were white. The three years before, the figures were similar. Here’s a graphic breakdown of the demographics of ACC lacrosse throughout the last three years.

TOTAL 2016-17

2016-17

WHITE, 91.2% BLACK, 0.7% AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKAN, 1.5% ASIAN, 0.4% HISPANIC/LATINO, 1.8% NATIVE HAWAIIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER, 0% TWO OR MORE RACES, 1.5% NONRESIDENT ALIEN, 0.4% OTHER, 2.6%

2016-17

WOMEN’S 2015-16

2014-15

WHITE, 91.8% BLACK, 1% AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKAN, 0.7% ASIAN, 0.4% HISPANIC/LATINO, 1% NATIVE HAWAIIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER, 0% TWO OR MORE RACES, 1.1% NONRESIDENT ALIEN, 1.1% OTHER, 2.8%

MEN’S 2015-16

WHITE, 90.5% BLACK, 1.1% AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKAN, 1.1% ASIAN, 0% HISPANIC/LATINO, 1.1% NATIVE HAWAIIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER, 0% TWO OR MORE RACES, 0.7% NONRESIDENT ALIEN, 1.1% OTHER, 4.6%

2014-15

WHITE, 88.7% BLACK, 1.5% AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKAN, 1.5% ASIAN, 0.2% HISPANIC/LATINO, 2.1% NATIVE HAWAIIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER, 0% TWO OR MORE RACES, 2.1% NONRESIDENT ALIEN, 1.5% OTHER, 2.5%

source: ncaa.org

WHITE, 86% BLACK, 2.3% AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKAN, 1.6% ASIAN, 0% HISPANIC/LATINO, 2.3% NATIVE HAWAIIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER, 0% TWO OR MORE RACES, 2.7% NONRESIDENT ALIEN, 2.7% OTHER, 2.3%

WHITE, 87% BLACK, 2% AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKAN, 1.6% ASIAN, 0.4% HISPANIC/LATINO, 2.4% NATIVE HAWAIIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER, 0% TWO OR MORE RACES, 3.3% NONRESIDENT ALIEN, 1.6% OTHER, 1.6%

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WHITE, 86.4% BLACK, 1.7% AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKAN, 1.7% ASIAN, 0.4% HISPANIC/LATINO, 2.5% NATIVE HAWAIIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER, 0.4% TWO OR MORE RACES, 2.9% NONRESIDENT ALIEN, 2.1% OTHER, 2.1%

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from page 7

varello “I always got penalties,” Varello added. “I was definitely a little too tenacious out there.”

Instead of soccer, Varello preferred football, where he could “ram his head into people.”

Around the same time, in 2010, a 12-yearold Varello continued his pursuit of physicality when he began taking lessons at the Fogolax Academy in Huntington, New York, with faceoff specialist coach Matt Schomburg.

“He was like a little round mound of rebound,” Schomburg said. “Like a little Charles Barkley.”

Varello wasn’t a natural athlete, Schomburg said. But Varello was naturally gifted as a faceoff specialist. He had incredibly quick hands, in part, due to their sheer size. At 12, Varello had bigger hands than some high schoolers, Schomburg said.

“I thought, ‘This kid can beat anyone … if (he) can get in shape,’” Schomburg said. “He’s just a naturally gifted, talented kid.”

Schomburg considers four key traits in evaluating the skills of a faceoff specialist: speed, balance, technique and power. Within just a few weeks of practicing, Varello had already tackled the first three. The one he lacked, surprisingly, was power.

In his youth, Varello had the size, just not the strength to match it.

By his sophomore year of high school, though, things were different. Varello became the starting faceoff specialist for Smithtown West (New York) High School.

Despite being one of the youngest starting faceoff specialists in the county, he showed promise with his lightning-quick hands and his raw power, which came into form as he aged.

“You’re not going to push him off his spot,” Smithtown West head coach Bob Moltisanti said. “He’s a fire hydrant.”

But as the strength began to emerge that year, he still wasn’t maximizing his potential. He needed to be quicker.

Between his sophomore and junior year, Moltisanti emphasized the importance of footwork and agility in becoming a successful faceoff specialist.

Varello listened, visiting the track several times per week to work on his foot speed and explosiveness. By his junior season, Varello combined the power and speed to become one of the best specialists in New York.

And he only continued to improve. By the end of his senior year, Varello was Smithtown West’s all-time leader in faceoff wins as well as a two-time All-Division and All-Suffolk County honoree.

from page 11

donahue Boston College, for advice.

Five players scored at least 29 goals and Syracuse ranked as the third-best scoring offense (283 goals) in the ACC last year. That total was fewer than the 314 it put up the season prior, which was the second-highest goal total in the country, when Donahue was a complimentary piece to Treanor and Majorana, and defenses didn’t game plan for the 5-foot-4 underclassman.

GOALS (42) ASSISTS (26) CAREER-HIGH POINTS (68) TIED A CAREER-HIGH Donahue led the Orange offense, replacing Kayla Treanor, and led SU in goals and assists for the first time in her career In the second half of last season, defenses started to scheme out Donahue by face guarding her. Syracuse wasn’t prepared for the tactic and Donahue grew frustrated. Her ineffectiveness, and the lack of a consistent secondary scoring option, cost SU in its biggest games of the year. Syracuse had 16 matchups against would-be NCAA tournament teams and went 9-7. Those were Syracuse’s only losses in 2017. Donahue racked up 33 points in games in which SU beat a would-be NCAA Tournament team and just

“To see him transform from a 14-year-old kid to an 18-year-old young man,” Moltisanti said, “that was special.”

•••

IN HIGH SCHOOL, VARELLO WAS the star. When he arrived at Syracuse, that dynamic changed. He wasn’t the top at his position, or even second. Williams was the best and no one else seemed close.

Varello impressed Williams early on in fall practices, though. The two faced off over and over, with Varello winning a few, Williams said. He praised Varello’s “really fast hands,” the quickness with which he clamps his stick down on the ball.

“I realized he was going to be a guy that would make me better,” Williams said. “You want to be challenged and have someone to compete with.”

VICTORY ROYALE Varello won 52.2 percent of his faceoffs as a true freshman in 2017

52.2 PERCENT

Varello earned his opportunity to compete early in the season. An injury forced Williams to miss SU’s home contest with Army. But Syracuse head coach John Desko opted to call on senior Cal Paduda to replace Williams.

Paduda won the first faceoff, which led to an SU goal. But he couldn’t do much more.

Paduda finished just 3-of-13 and SU found itself down 8-4 toward the end of the second quarter. Desko turned to Varello to win at the faceoff X. He thrived, winning 10-of-17, and leading an SU comeback. Despite the 14-13 SU loss, Varello succeeded, winning 58.8 percent of his faceoffs against Dan Grabher, the fifth-leading faceoff specialist in the country in 2017.

“I proved to everyone that not only do I play well in practice,” Varello said, “but I can play in those big games.”

17 in the losses. This year, Syracuse faces all those teams again.

“Players like Riley and Nicole (Levy), they hadn’t been in leadership roles before,” said Halley Quillinan Griggs, a former SU lacrosse player and current women’s editor for Inside Lacrosse. “I think you’re going to see a much more seasoned, veteran-heavy team.”

Both Gait and Donahue said the beginning of the 2018 campaign might feature a “fluid” or “rotation-based” offense with players not sticking to one role. The returning talent and an influx of All-American freshmen will allow Donahue to excel and exploit the duality of her game: dodging near the net and a quarterbacking at the top of the offense.

“I wouldn’t (face guard) anyone on (our) attack,” Donahue said. “… We have so many people that can do a little bit of everything. It can give us more room.”

When Donahue scanned the field last year, she saw a new batch of attackers for the first time in her SU career. This year, she’ll be flanked by familiar faces. Donahue will be surrounded by the likes of Levy, a junior who started 14 games last year; Alie Jimerson, a senior who should be accustomed to SU’s system a year after transferring from Albany; and Hawryschuk, a sophomore coming off a standout first year.

When the season begins Friday against Connecticut, all SU players will be in white jerseys, yet Donahue will still attract attention. She knows it’s there, she’s used to it by now and she’s confident that it will turn out better for her and Syracuse than it did on the first go-around. nialvare@syr.edu

Coming off five-straight one-goal games, in which SU went 4-1, the Orange hosted Duke one month after Army. During the previous three contests — all SU victories — Williams struggled after returning from injury, finishing 36-of-69.

Against Duke’s Kyle Rowe, Williams’ troubles escalated. Despite winning just four of 17 faceoffs, Syracuse held a two-goal lead entering the fourth quarter. But eight seconds into that frame, Duke scored immediately off a faceoff win.

Desko replaced his All-American with Varello. SU needed its unknown freshman to help lead then-No. 5 SU to a win against the 11th-ranked team in the nation.

Varello marched out and looked up into the stands. Seventy-three hundred people packed the Carrier Dome, the largest attendance of the year, and of Varello’s life.

From the start, Varello consistently beat Rowe. His first faceoff win led to an Orange goal. But SU turnovers handed Duke a twogoal lead.

With just more than six minutes left, Syracuse rallied. Varello won the following faceoff with ease, and sprinted directly toward the Duke goal, setting up an easy Brendan Bomberry finish.

Following another SU goal, both teams were knotted at 11. Neither side broke the tie in the final 1:30 left in regulation. Instead of going back to Williams in the overtime period, Desko trusted Varello to win the last possession.

“When I went in, I knew our coaches were really, really, really betting on this Plan B to work,” Varello said.

Varello looked up to the stands one more time before crouching down into position.

He and Rowe attacked each other, trying to win the ball, but Varello gained control and gave SU the possession. Forty seconds later, Trimboli netted the game winner before the mob ensued, and Varello, the unsung hero, went unnoticed.

The following Monday in practice, Varello approached Williams, who was coming off the worst game of his career. “‘Shake it off,’” Williams remembers Varello saying. “‘We’re going to do great going forward and we’re going to work on things together.’”

“That meant a lot to me,” Williams added.

“Especially for how well he played in that game. It spoke a lot about him as a teammate.”

•••

SYRACUSE’S CONDITIONING TEST

consists of three sprints of 440 yards, Varello said, which combined, must be completed in 214 seconds — three minutes and 34 seconds.

from page 12

trimboli As it became seemingly clear Trimboli would be the future of the midfield, plus the added pressure from the expectations of being a first-line midfielder as a freshman, Trimboli wanted to improve his skill set. So when he had free time, he worked on his shot. Often times, it was with Salcido before practice.

There, Salcido gave him pointers. By feeding each other and watching Trimboli’s shots, Salcido taught the then-freshman where to release his shot and how to get it off quicker.

Trimboli said he usually held onto the ball and took “a little too long” to shoot after high school, and Salcido knew to play collegiately, faster shots were crucial. He helped guide Trimboli through the beginning bumps and transition. It took Trimboli just two games to score his first goal, coming in a one-goal vic-

Williams never failed his test. When Varello attempted his first test his freshman year, he finished in 215.

“It bothered him,” Joe said. “He wished he was better prepared conditioning-wise.”

After Duke, Varello struggled the remainder of the season, winning just five of his remaining 17 attempts, finishing with a season percentage of 52.2.

In the offseason, the coaches didn’t want him focusing on his faceoffs though. Instead, they wanted Varello to play lacrosse — midfield, attack and defense — and focus on getting in better shape.

“I told him I didn’t want to see him until he was 10 pounds lighter,” Schomburg said.

And Varello listened. Every day over the summer, he headed to the track at Smithtown West and did sprinting workouts.

Then he would play midfield in tournaments on Long Island to work on his stickhandling and to see the field better once he wins the faceoff. To improve on faceoffs, Varello met up with Gerard Arceri of Penn State, Austin Henningsen from Maryland and both specialists from Hofstra, all of whom live in the area.

The five would meet at a small indoor facility, and spend the entire day facing off against each other. It was almost a “top secret exclusive cub,” Varello joked.

“You get five guys in a room and a couple of whistles,” Varello said. “That’s really all you need.”

He changed his diet to cut carbs, even though it is almost impossible coming from an Italian household, Varello said. He quickly shed those 10 pounds and continued working on his technique with Schomburg.

Now, entering his sophomore season, Varello has improved his all-around game.

He has gotten stronger and faster, improved his off-ball skills and his quickness at the faceoff X. “He even may be a hair quicker than Ben,” Desko said.

And he passed the fitness test that haunted him since last year.

“Danny looks at himself and to a (former) senior like Ben,” Joe said, “‘I’ve got to be in that shape. That’s my goal. I’ve got to eat right, I’ve got to be lean. I have to condition right. My position demands it and my teammates are counting on it.’”

Williams finished his career at Syracuse with a faceoff percentage of 61.4 percent.

Heading into this season, Schomburg gave Varello a prediction for his season mark: 62 percent. Varello thought the number was too low.

“Prove me wrong,” Schomburg said to Varello. “Let me see how good you are.” mdliberm@syr.edu

tory over Albany.

Salcido was there to guide him through the process. And with whatever Salcido said, Trimboli listened. He finished the year with 13 goals and poured in two in SU’s 11-10 win over Yale in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

“I think he’s going to take the next step,” Dixon said. “Oftentimes you see the great ones in the game jump from that really good freshman year, a lot of them become first-team All-Americans in their sophomore campaigns.”

Trimboli needs to progress from a freshman who, just a year ago, was the last option on a star-studded midfield line. Though there were moments where he shined, he still remained in the shadows of a Syracuse team that fell in the Elite Eight.

But this season, he needs to step into the spotlight. It’s his turn to become a lion. csdistur@syr.edu | @charliedisturco

BIG SHOES For the majority of last year, head coach John Desko’s go-to starting midfield of Nick Mariano, Sergio Salcido and Jamie Trimboli totaled 116 points. Thrown into a big role as a freshman, Trimboli accounted for just 12.9 percent of those points.

12.9 PERCENT

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