Jared Fernandez squared his shoulders at the faceoff man running off the field, flexed and roared. It was Feb. 8, and Syracuse was in the middle of its own comeback bid it never expected to be in. In a lifeless season-opening performance against Colgate — an eventual 12-9 loss — SU spent a majority of the contest without the ball, but the last two minutes brought an Orange run.

With usual faceoff man Danny Varello watching from the sidelines, the Orange looked into their near-present and future as sophomore Jakob Phaup won one faceoff, then the next, then the next. Then three more.

“It’s a weird, funky thing,” Phaup said of the season-opener. “I think I was just hearing the whistles, just felt good. Wasn’t really nervous at all, just came in (and did) the job.”

Against the Raiders, No. 14 Syracuse’s (2-2, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) futility with the ball allowed Phaup an extended run in relief of Varello — the first step toward Phaup’s starring role in the Orange’s faceoff unit. After the Colgate loss, SU identified its biggest issue as a lack of possession. It was a similar hindrance from last year, when the Orange placed the majority of the workload at the faceoff X on Varello. But with his performance against the Raiders, Phaup supplanted himself at the forefront of the recent progress, taking the first faceoff in SU’s March 2 matchup with then-No. 13 Virginia.

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He’s won 39 of his 60 attempts from the faceoff X this season, a mark that ranks him as the seventh-best faceoff specialist in the country. He’s earned comparisons to SU’s all-time faceoff leader Ben Williams at a high school in an area of Pennsylvania that rarely produces Division I lacrosse talent. Though SU head coach John Desko said the Orange will ride the hot-hand for the entirety of the season, Phaup’s recent play has led him to take 41 attempts to Varello’s 10 over the last two weeks, and it’s sprung him firmly to the front of SU’s faceoff rotation after his wrestling background aided a late start at the position.

“He does a really good job of just kind of sticking his nose in there,” Desko said after Syracuse’s loss, “and fighting for it.”

When Phaup first stepped onto the lacrosse field at Souderton Area (Pennsylvania) High School in ninth grade, the first thing the coaching staff noticed was his athleticism. He played offense, he played defense, and he did both better than most players on the team. Coaches asked themselves: How can we use him more?

A wrestler all through middle school and high school, Phaup had strong foot-and-hand quickness and a low center of gravity that foreshadowed him as a draw-control specialist. So, Souderton head coach Mark Princehorn threw him to the X.

Phaup won the first faceoff. “Beginner’s luck,” Princehorn remembered he said. He took the second. “Oh, this kid’s pretty good,” Princehorn said. Then, the third.

“Expletive,” Princehorn censored. “This kid is going to be expletive incredible.”

That night, Princehorn called Phaup’s mother, Beth, and said Phaup had abilities they couldn’t ignore. In Phaup, Princehorn saw a premier talent. But Princehorn isn’t a faceoff specialist, he said. To hone the craft, Phaup had to seek outside help.

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Phaup trained twice or more per week the summer after his freshman year at Philly Face-Off League and Philly Faceoff Academy, two of the premier training facilities in southeastern Pennsylvania. For the first couple of months, PFL coach John Bodnar recalled Phaup got “smoked” against kids from major high schools. It was clear Phaup came in with little experience, something Bodnar said is indicative of the lacrosse area he grew up in, and Phaup picked up the nickname “Souderton.”

But coaches admired his gradual improvement. In the summer before his sophomore year, Philly Face-Off League’s clinic ended with a double-elimination tournament. Phaup made it to the end, matched up and beat guys he “had no business” being in the same ring with months earlier.

“He’s not ‘Souderton’ anymore,” Bodnar remembered he said. “He’s Jake Phaup.”

Phaup entered the Philly Showcase, one of the top college scouting showcases in Pennsylvania, and listed “Souderton” where entrants list their club affiliate. Against 40 to 50 almost exclusively club players, Princehorn said, Phaup was one of four to make the all-star team.

SU assistant coach Lelan Rogers reached out to Souderton, and Princehorn responded with gametape from a recent game that year. Seventeen minutes later, Princehorn’s phone rang.

“Wow,” Princehorn remembered Rogers said to him. “You got something special here.”

Rogers compared Phaup to Williams, who won 256-of-380 attempts for SU that year. And it wasn’t crazy. Both followed wrestling backgrounds and hand-fighting qualities to the X. Wrestling, a one-on-one battle on its own, produces faceoff specialists often, Bodnar said. Princehorn joked with Phaup: “I bet you walk in there, and you’re No. 37.” They both laughed.

For a Souderton team that previously converted 40 to 60 percent of its faceoffs, Phaup won 84 percent of his attempts in his junior year and 74 percent of his nearly 700 attempts in his career. He translated his prior athleticism into tangible benefits.

At SU, opponents attempt to throw him off balance. Dating back to his time in the wrestling ring, Phaup’s high school wrestling coach Tristan Boyd said Phaup learned to “fight your body into a good position.” In one play against Virginia, an opponent’s shoulder straightened Phaup off the jump, freeing the Cavaliers space to scoop the ground ball. But as the UVA player tilted his head to the ground, Phaup knocked him off his feet and scooped the ball off the ground.

Off the whistle, Phaup uses his hand near the base of the stick as a lever to maneuver his stick head over the ball. Though he’s rarely one to beat the opponent at the whistle, his explosion and movement on the balls of his feet allow him to stick with the play.

“He’s so technical,” Princehorn said. “He’s done an amazing job perfecting his craft.”

Prior to SU, Phaup filmed himself taking draws and focused on the repetitions of his movements. The handwork, the footwork, the rotations: everything has to be the same. He made use of his past strengths and molded them into those of a potential faceoff star. He brought Souderton to several playoff appearances and is the “sole person,” Princehorn said, who revitalized Souderton’s lacrosse program. At SU, many expect he can be the future of the faceoff unit.

On his first day with the Orange, he located his nameplate in the locker room and saw the number he was assigned. “JAKOB PHAUP 37” hung in the center of the row. Phaup smiled and remembered his journey. He snapped a photo with his phone and sent it to Princehorn.

Courtesy of Mark Princehorn

Published on March 5, 2019 at 11:33 pm

Contact Michael: [email protected] | @MikeJMcCleary