Kayla Treanor has received plenty of text messages about today’s game. A bunch of phone calls, too. But she’d really like today’s women’s lacrosse game at the University at Albany to not be all about her.
“UAlbany is a very good team, and they always play us tight,” said Treanor, a Syracuse University senior. “They’re looking for a big quality win against us.”
OK, but . . .
“And I am excited to come play them at home,” she said.
Up until now, the 2012 Niskayuna High School graduate has not played in the Capital Region during her collegiate career. Treanor, a two-time Tewaaraton Award finalist closing in on becoming her program’s all-time leading goal scorer, estimates that her closest games to home during her Syracuse career have been played at the school’s Carrier Dome, making today’s 3 p.m. game against the Great Danes (3-0, 7-3) her personal homecoming.
UAlbany and Syracuse played each of the past two years, but the 2014 and 2015 games were at the Carrier Dome. Syracuse head coach Gary Gait — a star on the school’s men’s lacrosse team from 1987 to 1990 — said playing this year’s game at John Fallon Field was not intentionally set up as a special game for Treanor in her senior year, but he expects Treanor to handle the presence of some extra personal fans for her today at UAlbany with ease.
“The biggest thing this season has been her development as a leader for us, as a captain on the team,” Gait said. “She’s focused on the end goal in her senior year, and doing a great job being a captain.”
Treanor, 22, said that becoming more of a leader for Syracuse this season has been part because she feels more comfortable in that role as a senior, partly because her confidence grew after spending time training this past summer and fall with the U.S. women’s national team. In January,
Treanor was named to the team’s 24-player roster for its foreign tour this upcoming summer.
From her time with the national team last year, Treanor said her biggest takeaway was the way her older teammates carried themselves.
“It’s about being more vocal, but also trying to do the right thing all the time, leading by example on and off the field,” she said.
She’s helped pass along that type of focus to Syracuse teammate Cara Quimby, who graduated from Guilderland High School last year. In the midst of a redshirt year,
Quimby has spent the 2016 season trying to absorb as much as possible from her older teammates, and said there’s been nobody better to learn from than Treanor.
“Obviously, she’s phenomenal. She’s been teaching me different dodges and ways to use my stick, enhancing my stick skills and my shooting,” Quimby said. “She’s always trying out new things in practice, too, which I really respect.”
When it comes to her own play, Treanor has never struggled at Syracuse. She enters today’s game with 244 goals and 115 assists in her collegiate career, numbers which have her seven goals away from becoming the program’s all-time leader in scores and four points shy of taking over the No. 2 spot in that category.
While there are major personal milestones awaiting her as this season heads to its close, Treanor said the only things she cares about is winning a national title. That desire to lead Syracuse — ranked No. 4 in both national polls with an 11-3 record (4-1 in the ACC) — to a championship has driven her this spring, but has not shielded her from enjoying her final collegiate season.
“I’m having a blast with it,” she said. “I really love this team and this school, so I’m trying to enjoy the process and every minute I have left.”
That won’t be difficult today.
“It’ll be awesome to play on that field,” Treanor said. “To have my family and friends be able to be there is going to be great.”
Categories: College Sports
