photograph by Peyton Williams
QUICK STICK
Fastest draw in the east (or west) leads rising Cats
Kristen Millar has a knack for doing one thing better than anyone else in the history of women’s college lacrosse: beating her opponent to the ball and gaining possession during a draw (the equivalent of the face-off in hockey). This spring, Millar broke the NCAA record of 223 career draw controls set in 2004 by Georgetown’s Gloria Lozano.
If that seems an arcane claim to fame, it’s one with a significant impact on the outcome of a lacrosse game. In many ways draw controls are arguably the most important stat, because they give a team more opportunities to score and limit the number of opportunities for the opponent to do the same. As Millar points out, that can be crucial against a nationally ranked team accustomed to racking up goals.
The Catamount women’s lacrosse program posted its first win against just such an opponent, fourteenth-ranked UNH, this season, and they raised their competitive level against five ranked teams including Duke, Boston University, Dartmouth, and Stanford. They ended the season at 8-9 and took second place in America East, earning coach Jen Johnson the conference Coach of the Year Award.
In addition to her skill on the draw, Millar, an elementary education major from Whitby, Ontario, has posted a number of other impressive marks in her three years at Vermont. She is UVM’s all-time leader in total points and assists and is closing in on the Catamounts’ career goals record. Her overall play during the season earned a second consecutive spot on the America East all-conference list.
“What sets Kristen apart is the fact that she is a very smart player,” says Coach Johnson, a three-time All-American at Penn State and a co-captain of the Canadian National Women’s Lacrosse Team. “She may not be the most athletic, but she is a great lacrosse player, and there is a difference. She is smart enough to be in the right place at all times and she gives us maximum effort for whatever we ask her to do.”
With thirteen sophomores returning and Millar heading into her senior season, the future appears quite bright for a program that didn’t even offer scholarships until after Johnson’s arrival and still operates with far fewer than almost every team in the America East Conference.
“It’s one thing to want to be good, but until you truly believe it yourself, which can take actually beating a ranked team, it doesn’t mean much,” says Millar, who played for Canada last summer in the Women’s Lacrosse World Championships. “This is the first year I feel like everyone on this team actually believes we can win at a high level. Even after our 20-5 loss to Duke we were more confident. We went into that game scared, but later it helped us beat UNH and almost beat Stanford. If we played Duke again, now our attitude would be ‘Hey, let’s try to beat the No. 5 team in the country.’”
The fact that Millar is even playing lacrosse and her strength on draws can be credited in large part to Canada’s national pastime. She started playing hockey at age six and immediately started taking faceoffs. Millar, who wouldn’t start playing
lacrosse until seventh grade as a way to stay in shape for hockey in the “off-season,” showed an immediate skill for figuring out how to gain possession against an opponent. “Learning to anticipate the drop of the puck definitely helped,” she says.
Her secret on lacrosse draws: Millar uses her quick wrists to flick the ball up in the air before her opponent, who is often bigger and stronger, tries to overpower her so she can use her rangy 5-foot-10 frame to gain control of the airborne ball. “I’ve been taking draws since I was pretty young and learned to rely on finesse instead of power,” she says.
As the Catamounts have improved this season, Millar credits a newly instituted weekly team meeting for bringing the team closer. Goal setting is part of the meeting, which she says has gotten more ambitious each year of her career. More importantly, it has helped create a kinship that’s resulted in a more unified front. “We’ve really worked on communicating and team bonding,” she says. “We set goals in the past, but not everyone was on the same page. Now everyone states their goals and we talk them through until we all agree on them. I think you’re starting to see the results of it and will continue to see more.”
by Jon Reidel G’06
SHORTS
A Night to Celebrate
UVM Athletics looked back on the successes of the past year and handed out honors during the fourth annual Rally Awards on May 6. A rundown of winners follows.
Jeff Stone Memorial Award (community service/campus leadership): Corinne DiPietro, track and field; Jared Alvord, track and field.
Underclass Athletic Achievement Award: Courtnay Pilypaitis, basketball; Marqus Blakely, basketball.
Semans Trophy (seniors for athletic achievement, leadership): Channel Hamilton, track and field; Kyle Cieplicki, basketball.
Russell O. Sunderland Memorial Trophy (seniors for athletic achievement, character, leadership and persistence in overcoming obstacles): Collin Shore, lacrosse; Stirling Winder, field hockey.
Wasson Athletic Prize (seniors for athletic and academic excellence): Emilie Clark, lacrosse; Chris Healy, cross country/track.
J. Edward Donnelly Award (seniors for athletic excellence contributing to team achievement): Danielle Collins, field hockey; Joe Fallon, hockey.
Athletic Department Award (presented to the community for support of UVM athletics): Linda Bogardus ’84 and Steve Doyon.
Team MVP’s for the 2007-2008 seasons: men’s cross country, Doug Maisey; women’s cross country, Aly Millett; field hockey, Kim Striegler; men’s soccer, Connor Tobin; women’s soccer, Erin Pichiotino; men’s basketball, Marqus Blakely; women’s basketball, Courtnay Pilypaitis; men’s hockey, Joe Fallon; women’s hockey, Kristen Olychuck; women’s swimming and diving, Kate Weaver; men’s skiing, Juergen Uhl; women’s skiing, Jilyne McDonald; men’s indoor track and field, Justin Scricca; women’s indoor track and field, Carmen Lagala; men’s outdoor track and field, Aaron Campbell; women’s outdoor track and field, Corinne DiPietro; men’s lacrosse, Derek Lichtfuss; women’s lacrosse, Kristen Millar; softball, Rachelle Eloschuk; baseball, Joe Serafin.
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