The memories flooded back for Loren Ziegler.

She picked out fall ball games when she didn’t take the shot she wanted, times she didn’t put in extra work after practice and practices she did not work as hard as she said she should have.

At that point, nothing could change Syracuse head coach Gary Gait not having room for her on the team’s travel roster. When Ziegler was a sophomore, she hardly even played in the home games. In her first three seasons at SU, she played in just 20 of 69 possible games.

“Looking back on that was the hardest thing,” Ziegler said, “knowing I could have done something I didn’t do.”

But this year, Ziegler, now a senior, has 18 goals, and has played a key role on No. 3 SU’s second-line midfield late in the season. In the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, she scored a hat trick against Duke in the semifinal game, helping then-No. 7 Syracuse (14-6, 3-4 ACC) advance to the ACC championship game, which it eventually won. Before the tournament, Ziegler exploded for a five-goal outburst against Albany on Senior Day.

“Coaches are always looking for someone to step up,” Ziegler said. “And I’m just trying to embrace that role and pick up our game.

“… when the chance is there, I just take it.”

But two years ago, she didn’t take advantage of that chance. A few times after not making the travel roster, Ziegler doubted herself and even considered not playing lacrosse anymore. Some upperclassmen told her not to quit.

In her apartment after finding out Gait didn’t have room for her, Michelle Tumolo came over to comfort Ziegler, who admitted she was a “mess.”

“I was mad at myself, I was mad at things I didn’t do. I didn’t like Gary (Gait) at the moment,” Ziegler said. “But Michelle, she was there and she was supportive and she was like, ‘This gives you the opportunity to work harder, prove him wrong, prove him wrong.’”

Ziegler started working with Nicky Galasso, a midfielder on Syracuse’s men’s team and high school friend at the turf field at West Islip (New York) High School, their high school alma mater.

Galasso told Ziegler she needed to improve her shooting and stick work. He said the two worked on Ziegler changing the angle of her shot and shooting from high to low or low to high.

After the fall season the coaches meet with their players and discuss things to work on for the upcoming season. In the fall season in Ziegler’s junior year, Gait told her she made the travel team.

“In my meeting, (Gait) goes, ‘And you’re on the travel team,’” Ziegler said. “I just remember being so happy. I think I had tears in my eyes at the moment.”

She still managed to play in only six games last season. But this past fall, Ziegler worked with assistant coach Katie Rowan and volunteer assistant coach Katie Webster on dodging. On a dodge, she tries stepping a foot or two in front of the player ahead of her, stutter stepping and wait until they make a move. Once the player makes their move, Ziegler said she goes the other way.

The move has helped her become a better scorer. Against Albany, she earned one free position and scored on the move another time.

“We always talked about shooting and dodging and that type of thing,” former teammate Alyssa Murray said of what Ziegler could improve. “… I think she’s done really well this year… really good with her elbow dodging on the wing.”

Ziegler traveled to the ACC tournament with the team this weekend, totaling three goals in the three games she played in.

She got the opportunity to celebrate SU upsetting three highly-ranked opponents en route to its first ACC tournament title.

Something that wouldn’t have happened had she quit two years ago.

“She’s built her confidence and her confidence is sky-high right now,” SU head coach Gary Gait said. “She believes she can score goals and make an impact on this program and she can.”

Published on April 27, 2015 at 10:51 pm

Contact Chris: [email protected] | @ChrisLibonati