Women's Lacrosse

Draw specialist Kailah Kempney prepares to face Maryland’s Taylor Cummings

Larry E. Reid Jr. | Staff Photographer

Kailah Kempney has been the sole person on the draw for Syracuse this year and her 9.83 draw controls per game rank third in the country. She'll face defending Tewaaration Award winner and UMD's Taylor Cummings on Saturday.

As Kailah Kempney lines up at midfield, two of her teammates crowd the circle around her.

They flash hand signals to one another and yell out different colors, signaling where each player is and what each one is going to do.

Kempney listens to her teammates, analyzes the stick her opponent is using and where the referee has placed the ball. She adjusts her grip and decides where she’s going to try to place the ball.

“It really comes down to right before the whistle and sometimes it’s too late to even change anything,” Kempney said.

Kempney has been the sole person on the draw for Syracuse this year and her 9.83 draw controls per game rank third in the country. Maryland faceoff specialist Taylor Cummings, the reigning Tewaaraton Award winner, will test Kempney’s success when No. 5 Syracuse (5-1, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) takes on the No. 1 Terrapins (4-0) on Saturday at noon in a rematch of last year’s national championship game.



Last year, the Orange fell to the Terrapins three times, including a 15-12 loss in the title game, as Maryland averaged 4.3 more draw controls per game than SU with Cummings primarily on the draw.

“Win the draw, win the game — most of the time,” SU attack Devon Collins said. “Sometimes teams prove that wrong, but it’s very rare that a team comes up with less draw controls and still wins the game.”

SU’s draw control group starts every practice the same way. Kempney, attacks Riley Donahue and Kayla Treanor and midfielder Erica Bodt arrive 15 minutes early to work with assistant coach Katie Rowan.

They do “quicks,” a drill where they turn their wrists over quickly with a stick in their hands simulating a quick draw, for about two minutes. After that come high tosses to work on their verticals, then take draws against each other.

In addition to the extra practice, she’s even used baseball resistance exercises to strengthen her wrists, Collins said.

“It’s definitely one of the most important parts of the game,” Kempney said. “But everyone has their position and their job to fulfill.”

Kempney’s go-to move is a self-draw because it’s a 50-50 battle. In a critical game situation, odds are she’ll try to win the draw herself, Kempney said.

Otherwise, she’ll send it in the direction of one of her teammates, which can lead to a multi-player scramble for the ball.

“I think the biggest thing is communication,” SU midfielder Kelly Cross said, “and … that one of us ends up with the ball, but it’s all working together to make that happen.”

Against taller opponents like Cummings, it can be hard to get a self-draw that pops straight up in the air. She tries to swat it down for her teammates or box out her opponent, but it doesn’t always work.

“She’s just so confident,” Kempney said. “She knows she’s going to win it. Not having the greatest games against her the last couple years definitely ruins my confidence.”

After the national championship game, Kempney went home and practiced draws, primarily self-draws, with her younger sister Braelie, who takes draws in high school. All the while, she had the final game in the back of her mind.

Coming into the season, Kempney made one of her biggest goals clear: beat Maryland. But she’ll have to start with beating Cummings, or whomever Maryland puts in the circle, on the draw.

“It’s definitely going to come down to draw controls,” Kempney said. “I think that’ll determine where the game will go.”





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