Syracuse’s summer only lasted two months, partly because Claire Webb wanted the team to get a “jumpstart” on the season.   

Some players, like Webb, usually return to SU around July, but never as early as in 2019. And never with this many teammates. Returning early isn’t required or pressured, Webb said, but last season’s shortcomings — like a 1-5 record in the Atlantic Coast Conference — inspired urgency.  

Webb and other seniors led captains’ practices, team building exercises, and “culture meetings” in early July, more than a month before their official preseason began. As a freshman, Webb went through those pre-preseason drills along with about half the team. As a senior, she led nearly the whole roster.  

“It wasn’t really even a question for most people whether or not they wanted to come back for the summer,” Webb said. 

In her first three seasons at SU, Webb appeared in every game, even playing with a facemask after suffering a broken nose in 2016. Her reliability and calming presence in the back led head coach Ange Bradley to once call her “Steady Eddie” and a “workhorse.”  

But now, Webb has missed all four of the Orange’s games in 2019, due to a hand injury. As Syracuse (3-1) looks to recover from missing the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2007, the preseason All-ACC back will be the designated “one voice” who speaks in huddles and in chaotic moments once she returns.  

“I’m usually pretty steady,” Webb said. “I’m never really super high or super low … It’s kind of something I’ve always had. It’s kind of my personality.”  

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Webb remembers watching the upperclassmen’s leadership tactics intently as a freshman. One of her biggest goals for the summer practice sessions in 2019 was to help integrate the incoming freshmen into the program, like they had done for her.  

“She really gives it her all, and that’s something that I’ve been trying to work on,” freshman back Olivia Graham said. “That every play, every little practice scrimmage, every shot, is something that you need to put your full effort into, so when it comes down to game time, it’s easy.”  

Though Webb has remained calm, she said she’s changed dramatically in other since freshman year, becoming more direct and comfortable in confrontation. 

Before this season, Webb was appointed to the “leadership group” along with junior Carolin Hoffmann, junior Claire Cooke, sophomore Laura Graziosi and senior Stephanie Harris. In their first season without three-time All-American back Roos Weers, Webb has described herself as the “calming, driving force” that Syracuse needs.  

When Webb’s on the field, she’s adept at distributing the ball from the back and maintaining possession, said Harris. “She’s always low, she’s always stuck to the ball,” Harris said.  

But through the first four games of 2019, an injury to her left hand suffered in the preseason has limited Webb to just being a voice from the sidelines. For the first time in her college career, Webb can’t steady her team in tense late-game situations or defend penalty corners. 

In Syracuse’s home opener against Lafayette, a 3-2 double overtime win, Webb stood for the whole game, right behind Bradley, shouting out instructions and encouragement to the backline. When Hoffmann exited the game with a green card, Webb handed her a water bottle.  

“It’s definitely a different role than I’m used to, but it’s something that I’m embracing,” Webb said. “I try to lead off the field as much as on the field.”  

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The Orange read “Wolfpack” — written by former US soccer forward Abby Wambach — over the summer. Bradley said the book focused on the value of leading no matter your position or role.  

Syracuse can’t afford to have the Exton, Pennsylvania native leading from the bench for much longer. The Orange’s defense allowed two penalty corner goals in a 2-1 loss to Cornell, who won just one Ivy League game in 2018. Syracuse’s defense has relied on Harris, as well as underclassmen SJ Quigley and Graham. After the loss to Cornell, the team stretched silently in a circle, as Webb consoled some of her teammates quietly. 

In four games without Webb this year, its defense has allowed 1.67 goals per game, a decrease from last year’s 2.19 goals-against average. With Webb back in the fold, that number could drop even more. She injured her hand during preseason, and said she hopes to be back in mid-September. 

Webb and many within the team point toward inexperience as one of the main reasons why the Orange underachieved last year. Now, with about seven underclassmen in the starting lineup, SU could still use a jolt of experience — that “one voice” — as it heads toward conference play on Sept. 20.   

“I think she just leads by example, honestly,” Harris said. “She’ll just do it, and people follow her.”

Published on September 10, 2019 at 10:05 pm

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