Draw controls.
It seems like a simple concept, but in the sport of lacrosse it is one of the most essential keys for success and the No. 18 Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team seems to get the point.
Winning a draw control assures that your offense will get a crack at going on the offensive, and that’s the last thing a team facing the Minutewomen wants to see.
The woman in charge of winning these all important draw controls for UMass is senior attacker Nina Sarcona.
Heading into Tuesday’s game against American, the Minutewomen had won 99 draw controls, compared to 55 from their opponents. Of those 99, Sarcona was credited with 36.
In Tuesday’s 19-11 win against the Eagles (3-4), the Minutewomen (7-0) won 22 of the 32 draw controls in the game. Sarcona was credited with nine and both Ali Houlis and Tanner Guarino got five. Sarcona now has 45 draw controls and is on pace to break her mark of 63 from last season.
Tuesday’s game wasn’t just all about the draw controls for Sarcona, however. She also scored three goals bringing her season total up to 12.
“Nina, she is always an unsung hero for our team. The effort that she has on the draws puts us in a position where we can score and win the game. I attribute every win to Nina pretty much because she is giving us the ball in order to score,” said UMass coach Angela McMahon.
As McMahon said, winning draw controls is crucial in lacrosse because it gives your offense the ball and that opportunity is more than enough for this potent UMass offense.
The Minutewomen have now racked up 117 goals for the season and are averaging 7.67 goals per game. These numbers could not possibly be this high without the hard work that Sarcona puts in on the face-offs.
When asked about what she does to prepare for face-offs she said, “Timing and technique are key. I listen to whistles to try to practice hearing it so I’m not jumpy. It’s a lot about technique. Some strength training with my wrist, and I go and practice before practice so I can get it down.”
Winning draw controls is nothing new for Sarcona. Coming into this season, she racked up 84 draw controls including 63 just last season, which is the second most ever by a Minutewomen in a single season.
Heading into Tuesday’s game, Sarcona was in a tie for fourth place in the NCAA in draw controls with an average of six per game. Her performance against American bumped that average up to 6.43, which will momentarily put her in sole possession of fourth place.
In overall draw controls, she moved into second place on Tuesday as she now stands at 45 on the season. She is only three behind Ana White of Lafayette who has 48. White also leads the nation in draw controls per game with 6.86 per game.
Cameron McDonough can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_McDonough.
