Nick Weston stands just 5 feet, 8 inches. He weighs 167 pounds. He doesn’t have the same prodigious aura that fellow freshman Jordan Evans carries with him, or the expectations.

With Weston, it’s more about demeanor than size or strength. He doesn’t easily stand out in a crowd of teammates, but his play has made him hard to ignore.

“He’s so calm,” said senior midfielder Billy Ward. “I haven’t really seen a freshman be so calm in a game situation or in a practice situation. They’ve thrown so much information, it’s pretty impressive to see how calm he is.“

Weston, a midfielder, is the only freshman on the Syracuse team to have seen action in every game this season. He’s scored just two goals this year, but has still had an effect on the program. SU head coach John Desko said he doesn’t make very many mistakes, and that his play is efficient. But even though his attitude may seem laid back, his success is still a product of his motivation.

“I kind of do my own thing,” Weston said. “If he has something to say to me, then I kind of take it and the way I interpret it is that I can make myself better.”

Desko said that Weston has received more playing time than expected before the season, and he’s earned it. His on-field awareness sets him apart and Desko also said Weston had the offense almost completely down by the time fall ball ended.

Weston often comes and asks the coaching staff questions about where to go on a clear or where to go on a ride, and it’s questions such as those that Desko said other freshmen have not yet been asking.

“The guys that get out there and understand what they’re doing on the field,” Desko said, “get on the field quicker.”

After Weston graduated from Honeoye Falls-Lima (N.Y.) High School, he decided he needed a year of prep school before attending Syracuse.

Having played at a school that Weston said did not have a strong lacrosse background, he wanted a chance to hone in his skills knowing the type of competition he’d face at the Division I level.

“I knew that a lot of the guys that I was coming in with were really well prepared because of the schools they came from,” Weston said. “They were always playing the best competition. I figured I put myself in a better opportunity.”

And when he got to see significant minutes in SU’s game against then-No. 2 Johns Hopkins on March 15, he made the opportunity count.

After missing a scoring opportunity wide right just before halftime, Weston buried a goal that proved to be the game-winner with 10 minutes to play.

Weston hasn’t proven anyone wrong this season. He hasn’t even proven himself to be one of the team’s top players.

But he has been a model of consistency, and a product of his own hard work and levelheaded approach.

“I knew coming in there was a lot of guys on the team already, a lot of spots were taken,” Weston said. “I just thought, ‘I’m going to work as hard as I can. If I get an opportunity to play, I’m gonna make the most of it.’

“And they gave me an opportunity.”

Published on April 23, 2014 at 1:15 am

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3