In girls high school lacrosse, a draw takes place at the start of every quarter and after every goal. Standing at midfield for the draw, one player from each team faces off against each other inside the center circle, while two of their teammates stand at the outer edge of the circle.
“Win the draw, win the game.”
Often emphasized by lacrosse coaches, this mantra reminds players to focus on gaining possession of the draw.
In girls high school lacrosse, a draw takes place at the start of every quarter and after every goal.
Standing at midfield for the draw, one player from each team faces off against each other inside the center circle, while two of their teammates stand at the outer edge of the circle.
After the referee places the ball between the players’ sticks to start the draw, the whistle is blown and the two opposing players lift up and back with their sticks causing the ball to go up in the air.
The two players who faced off and their two teammates then try to gain possession of the ball, which is known as a draw control.
In their 20-3 opening day victory over the Lakewood Rangers on April 1 at Kenston High School, Bombers Girls Lacrosse demonstrated excellent draw control.
Certainly, winning 17 draw controls provided the Bombers a big advantage over the Rangers.
Helping to achieve this edge was senior captain Carmella Nilsson who led the Bombers with 8 draw controls.
Starting 2025 where she left off, Nilsson in 2024 set the Bombers Girls Lacrosse school record for draw controls in a season with 128.
Coming into the 2025 season, Nilsson only needed four draw controls to reach 200 for her career.
On opening day, late in the first quarter, Nilsson obtained this significant milestone.
In the post-game interview, Nilsson expressed her excitement on achieving her 200th draw control.
“I just feel great,” said Nilsson. “I’ve been working for that for the past four years to get that 200th draw control and I’m just very thankful to get it.”
Nilsson then emphasized how important draw controls are for successful team performance.
“Draws are what win or lose a game in my opinion,” Nilsson said. “Just getting a draw, you get the opportunity to get the ball down to offense, and let offense do their thing which will end up in hopefully a goal most of the time.”
Kenston Head Coach Becky Parker added, “I think (controlling the draw is) really crucial. Definitely when you’re winning the draw, it helps you get it on the offensive side and keeps it on your side of the field, giving you the opportunity to see the net.”
In emphasizing the importance of the draw, Coach Parker said that the Bombers work on draw control at every practice, focusing on hand techniques and ball movement in the midfield.
Coach Parker said that Nilsson’s ability to draw the ball to herself and her experience in playing hockey have led to success in controlling the draw.
In fact, Coach Parker, who has been coaching Nilsson since fifth grade, recounted a humorous story from the start of this season.
Parker said that Nilsson reminded her of a note she gave her as part of an award from the 5th grade season.
“I said (to Carmella in the note) ‘I know you love hockey more than lacrosse, but you should definitely stick with it’,” said Coach Parker. “And now she is playing (lacrosse) in college and she was my first commit after I have been coaching for four years at the varsity level.”
In addition to leading the team with eight draw controls in the season opener, Nilsson, a Tusculum University commit, led the Bombers with five goals for the game.
The Bombers also had eight other players score goals against the Rangers including Ashlyn Hunter (3 goals), Mariela Macias (3), Brenna Zak (3), Maggie Nelson (2), Charlotte Cowan (1), Cora Dunnam (1), Alaina Murphy (1) and Cate Zoltowicz (1).
Along with the Bombers excellent offense and draw controls, they also demonstrated a formidable defense.
Leading the way for the Bombers defense against the Rangers was senior captain Keely Chamberlin who received the Bombers defensive player of the game award.
“Defense had a great game,” Chamberlin said. “We were pretty good at communicating, who’s got ball, who’s off ball, who’s adjacent. So we worked really well together to not let them get close to the goal.”
To build cohesion on defense in preparation for the 2025 season, Chamberlin said the team spent a lot of time together this past summer honing their defensive skills.
In particular, Chamberlin noted that the communication developed during the summer was apparent on the field on opening day.
“Communication is the biggest thing about defense because obviously if you’re not talking, you don’t know who’s got who,” Chamberlin said. “So marking up, staying on your girl, and being able to be flexible, we definitely worked on (these things) this summer, which showed in the game.”
With the excellent offensive and defensive performances and superb draw control against the Rangers, the Bombers look poised to make a deep run in the 2025 OHSAA playoffs.
