The summer before the Syracuse women’s lacrosse program played its inaugural season, new head coach Lisa Miller hosted the first annual camp for girls of all ages. Courtney Palladino, fresh off an eighth-grade year in which she played on varsity at Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse, signed up for the weeklong event in July of 1997.

Miller still remembers their first encounter. After all, Palladino, now a senior midfielder, displayed the same hair style, offered the same smile and presented the same face as she does now. Not to mention the same reckless abandon on the field. Palladino enjoyed the week so much she never missed a camp again.

Now almost eight years after she initially stepped on an Orange lacrosse field, Palladino’s time at SU is dwindling. She will be on the field when No. 17 Syracuse welcomes Loyola to the Carrier Dome on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Orange (7-2, 1-1 Big East) enter riding a five-game winning streak while the Greyhounds (3-6) are suffering through an uncharacteristic rebuilding year.

As always, most eyes will be on SU’s two other seniors. Because leading goal scorer Monica Joines and point leader Caitlyn Dragon find their names in the box score so often, Palladino’s efforts may go unnoticed.

But the team knows otherwise. While Palladino has contributed 20 career goals, her primary responsibility pits her all alone, mano-a-mano, in the center of the field at least 15 times a game. An often overlooked and unglamorous part of the game, Palladino has served as the Orange’s primary draw-control player the last two seasons.

‘She takes a lot of pride in it,’ said John Palladino, Courtney’s father. ‘She knows that draws can control the outcome of the game.’

In women’s lacrosse, the ball is placed between opposing players’ sticks in the air. At the whistle, the two players try to force the ball either to themselves or a teammate. The intricacies of the position take years to master.

Palladino finished third in the nation in draw controls last season with 45. This year, she and the Orange struggled in gaining possession at the beginning of the season, but her recent success helped fuel the team’s five-game surge. Key draw-control wins led to a four-goal, second-half run that helped beat Cornell, 9-8, on Tuesday.

‘I’ve fit into this role pretty well and accepted it,’ Palladino said. ‘Everything I want to do for my team I take with pride.’

‘The best part of Courtney’s game is between the 30 (yard lines),’ Miller said. ‘She’s a great athlete and reacts well to the ball. She’s got good hands and can catch just about anything. And she’s one of the better ground-ballers on the team. All of those things lead to someone who is good at the draw controls.’

She’s been at it for years now. She was almost obligated to take draw-controls in eighth grade by then-Christian Brothers coach Gina Burrows because that role was designated to the team’s best player.

That distinction changed when arriving at SU and her father said that was tough for her at the beginning. Christian Brothers started a girls program only a few years before SU did, and Palladino was the school’s first star player. She scored 95 goals her junior year and totaled 200 for her career even though she missed her senior season with a torn ACL. With the Orange, she suddenly wasn’t the focal point of the offense.

Any resentment is long gone. Though she is also the only one of the three seniors who is not a captain, she certainly serves as a team leader.

‘If she’s around, there’s always laughs to be had,’ said senior midfielder Monica Joines with her arm around Palladino, her roommate and best friend since arriving on campus. ‘She’s always the jokester. She can always make a right out of any situation and doesn’t let a lot of things bog her down.’

She’s actually been a role model for quite some time now.

One summer during high school when Palladino was helping coach middle-school kids, a seventh-grader told Burrows she wanted to be just like Palladino.

‘I’ll never forget that,’ Burrows said. ‘I couldn’t wait to tell Courtney. That was the coolest thing.’

So while she doesn’t remember too much specifically about that first camp, she does recall feeling important when Miller pulled her aside on a few occasions.

Whether she was truly special then is debatable. Now there is no question. She will probably turn out another quiet yet crucial performance against the dangerous, wounded Greyhounds tomorrow. She’s one of those integral pieces of the puzzle that will be awfully tough to replace next year.

‘All four years have been great,’ Palladino said. ‘This one has especially been the best because we’re all so close. It’s exciting moving on to the next step, but at the same time all three of us (seniors) are going to miss it also.’

Published on April 6, 2005 at 12:00 pm