Morgan Widner jogged out to the block “S” on Ernie Davis Legends Field this past Friday and prepped for her specialty: draw controls. She starred in 2017, starting every game and finishing with the seventh-best draw percentage in the country (70.9).

Now on the precipice of her sophomore season, she stood next to Connecticut’s Sydney Watson and readied for the whistle. When it blew, Watson muscled Widner off her spot and won the draw.

Watson scored 40 seconds later.

On the next draw, Watson beat Widner again, and Syracuse’s draw control specialist fell to the ground. As Widner made it to the sidelines to regroup, Watson scored again. Julie Cross, Widner’s backup, attempted the third draw and she lost, too. The fourth, fifth and sixth draws of the game held the same result.

“We weren’t really effective.” SU head coach Gary Gait said of the draws after the Feb. 9 matchup. “… Every time the ball came flying out to that circle, it was going to them.”

Playing in the first game after a shortened fall-ball season, Gait credited Cross and Widner’s issues to a “lack of fundamentals.” The duo settled in after the initial bombardment, won 17 of the next 26 draws, and brought the draw controls to an even 18 for the game. No. 5 Syracuse’s (1-0) eventually coasted to a season-opening 23-11 rout. Postgame, Gait said that the pair might continue to switch off at the faceoff X in 2018.

Widner set Syracuse’s freshman-record for draws (156) last year. Cross, a junior, totaled 17 in her first two seasons at SU. The Orange will look to find the right draw control combination when it flies west to take on Oregon for the first time in program history on Feb. 18.

“We kind of go with the flow,” Gait said. “Certain people match up better with certain draw people. We’ll give both an opportunity and read the game as it goes. … I certainly have a good understanding of the type of (draw) people that Morgan is strong against and Julie is a good counter against the other type.”

During last year’s ACC Tournament, Cross spelled Widner as a change-of-pace draw specialist. Cross earned 11 draws in a two-game stretch, her highest two-game total of her career. Widner posted a career-worst four draws in the same span. A similar stat line occurred against the Huskies. Cross finished with eight draw controls, a new single-game best. Widner corralled one draw, tying a career-low.

Gait and Widner identified two types of draw specialists: ones that rely on strength and others that focus on finesse. A strength, or power, specialist uses their upper-body more than a finesse drawer who depends on hand-eye coordination and their wrists, Widner said.

Widner utilizes a finesse technique and Cross, SU’s tallest-player at 6-foot-1, is a power specialist. UConn’s Watson, a strength-drawer, surprised Widner because the Orange had no film of the freshman to review.

After each loss, Cross, Widner and Gait met on the sidelines to think of an adjustment. It’s a luxury Widner and Cross have, since both of them almost never get onto the field besides to take draws. The trio think about draw controls as a chess game, Widner said, and they were currently being-outmatched by a freshman.

“You have to think,” Widner said, “what is the other person doing? Based off what they are doing, how are we going to counteract that play?”

Cross said she and Widner are practicing against each other more this season than last. Part of the reason, she said, was to adjust to the new rule changes that limit the number of players that can compete for the ball before possession is established.

While attackers worked their way through obstacles and shot at an open net during a recent practice, defenders worked with the goalkeepers on opposite ends of the field. At midfield, Widner and Cross battled and Gait watched over them.

“Coming back this week,” Gait said, “… they had an understanding. You got to stay with your technique, you got to focus on it and not necessarily overreact to somebody’s style or the way they’re doing something that maybe you’re not used to.”

In the waning minutes of the first half against UConn, Widner ran off the field and over to Gait after losing a draw. She looked up at her coach and shrugged her shoulders. Behind the SU bench, Gait grabbed a stick and held it out in front of him, simulating a draw as a teaching moment.

Molly Ford, Widner’s coach at Coppell (Texas) High School, called Widner “naturally gifted,” at the faceoff X. That skill carried her last year — and earned her an Inside Lacrosse All-American Honorable Mention nod — but not against Connecticut. With 10 currently-ranked teams on the Orange’s schedule, Widner will hope that last Friday’s game was a bump in the road rather than the start of a trend, or else Cross can expect an increased role.

“Morgan has more success against certain types of draw people and she knows that,” Gait said. “I just told her, ‘You need to develop the other techniques so you can have success against everybody. … That’s her goal this year: to learn how to do that.”

Published on February 15, 2018 at 12:03 am

Contact Nick: nialvare@syr.edu | @nick_a_alvarez