Kailah Kempney has an explanation for why Syracuse dominated the draw circle on Sunday.

She just won’t say it.

“Um, we just — it’s a secret,” Kempney said, giggling.

Kempney chose to let her play speak for itself. Along with Kirkland Locey in the draw circle and a team of players on the wing, Syracuse combined to control 14-of-19 draws in second-seeded Syracuse’s (19-2, 6-1 Atlantic Coast) 13-6 win over Stony Brook (17-4, 4-1 America East) at SU Soccer Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The victory puts the Orange in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.

“If you look at the draw control count and the score of the game, they’re pretty even,” Kempney said. “Draws are important. You can’t score without the ball.”

Kempney set the tone early, popping the first draw high in the air to the left of the circle. She raced over as it fell in her stick. It led to SU’s first goal, as it would for its first five.

By the time Michelle Rubino controlled SBU’s first draw, the score was 5-1. After the score was 7-1, Rubino took over in the circle for Dorrien Van Dyke, as SBU head coach Joe Spallina tried desperately to get something going.

“We always say, ‘Win the draw, win the game,’” SU attack Alyssa Murray said. “And Kailah always does her best to put us in a position to win the game, and get all the draws.

“We owe a lot to her for the win.”

The wings contributed greatly to the SU victory. Kempney only controlled two, but she set her teammates up to grab the ball. Ten players picked up at least one draw.

She said it’s a result of communication.

“We’ve been working on it a lot,” Kempney said. “We just communicated a lot before and after each draw.”

And while it may be a mystery as to how she leads the draw circle, her stats tell the whole story.

Published on May 11, 2014 at 6:57 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3