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line of white-and-purple jerseys all leaned forward, bent at the waist, as though a fence was holding them back. They counted down with the clock — “Five! Four! Three!” — on the screen behind each end zone. The clock hit zero, and everyone lunged forward.

For the seventh time in eight years, Northwestern women’s lacrosse had won the national title. Opposite the perennial champions were the newcomers. Some froze on the field. Some stared blankly ahead. It was Syracuse’s first finals appearance, and now, its first defeat.

Three hundred and eighty miles from Stony Brook University — host of the 2012 NCAA Tournament final — Emily Hawryschuk watched with mixed emotions. The eighth-grader’s favorite player, Northwestern’s Shannon Smith, would be named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. After playing the sport for just more than a year at the time, Hawryschuk realized she wanted a national title of her own — for Syracuse. Now a senior and the third-best player in the country — male or female — according to Inside Lacrosse, Hawryschuk has one last chance.

“I knew one day I wanted to do just that,” Hawryschuk said, “and I’ve been very vocal about it.”

Born about 90 minutes west of the Carrier Dome, Hawryschuk has been drawn to orange and blue her entire life. Her aunt attended Syracuse. Her father, Nick, grew up in Seneca Falls and discovered Syracuse lacrosse’s notable reputation in the area, he said.

But Hawryschuk was known for her ability to play baseball. And soccer. She simply didn’t have the time for or interest in lacrosse — until one night, when Hawryschuk was in seventh grade and Nick picked up a lacrosse stick on his way home from work. He purposefully picked the “worst pocket in the world you’d have to learn on,” figuring Hawryschuk was either going to hate the sport or fall in love with it.

“(It was) too shallow,” Nick said, “Made it like a tennis racket to see how she could do with balancing it in there.”

Hawryschuk pounded away at the pocket, but no matter what she did, it stayed flat. Eventually, she gave up resisting. She began watching games on TV and practiced the moves she saw. Her balance and hand-eye coordination from the start was uncanny, Nick said. She completely bypassed the awkward phase.

By the end of eighth grade, she’d been called up to the varsity lacrosse team at Churchville-Chili Senior (New York) High School. She’d given up baseball and recently joined a travel lacrosse club called Lady Roc. In her first tournament, she quickly made an impression on her club coach, Kerrie Brown.

“I didn’t really have to coach her up,” Brown said, “She could just blend in and play.”

Off the field, Hawryschuk made a habit of going to the gym. Her father would prepare workouts for her, consisting mainly of deadlifts, bench presses and pull-ups. She ran sprints in her front lawn.

Then, Hawryschuk began to distinguish herself. If Lady Roc had a practice on a Tuesday night, she would stay late after practice, play at home the next day and then text Brown Thursday afternoon, asking if they could pass before practice and if she could show Brown the new move she’d taught herself since Tuesday.

“All of a sudden she comes in next practice ripping corners from the 8,” Brown said, “And I’m just like, ‘Well, if you practiced it enough, you’re right.”

Just two years after starting the sport, Hawryschuk started varsity as a freshman. She’d already solidified herself as the best player on her club team. She was the Monroe County Division 3 Player of the Year as a sophomore, three years after picking up the sport. But still, something was missing. She wanted to be a champion.

When Hawryschuk got her license during her senior year of high school, the first things she put in her Ford F-150 were her sticks and a bag of balls. Sometimes, when she was driving home “to sit on the couch,” she said she’d stop at Dryer Road Park on the way to hone her shot.

Hawryschuk stopped playing with Lady Roc the summer after her junior year, as most 11th graders typically do in the program. Following her commitment to Syracuse, the family moved to Victor so they could be closer to campus. There, Hawryschuk led the Blue Devils to the Section V Class B championship. She finished her high school career with 291 goals and 87 assists, but, with Syracuse around the corner, that was over.

“I didn’t reminisce that much in high school,” Hawryschuk said, “I was focused on going forward.”

At Syracuse, Hawryschuk said she was no longer “leader of the pack.” She was a freshman, and even in the weight room she found herself just “a little above average.” On the field, head coach Gary Gait worked with her shooting form, trying to change her from a sidearm/underhand shooter to an overhand shooter.

By the end of the year, she finished with 38 goals and 48 points, both second-most on the team. She played in all 22 games, the final being a first-round loss to Boston College in the NCAA Tournament. She got to experience some of the emotions Gait and his team did in 2012, and they didn’t sit well.

When Hawryschuk went home, 10 reps became 12. The workouts became more focused, and she became more active in structuring new ones every two months with her dad. The workouts became so intense, physically and cardiovascularly, that she said “it’s almost like you never have to run.”

Hawryschuk returned her sophomore year to lead SU in goals and points. She noticed herself emerging in the weight room, and more teammates began looking up to her. But what struck Gait was her attention to the little details she was still refining.

“It’s just who she is,” Gait said, “She got better with every year. She wanted it. She wanted to be good.”

The few times she isn’t near a weight room or a Syracuse building, Hawryschuk is back home in Victor, coaching youth lacrosse to players between kindergarten and 11th grade. The girl who started playing in seventh grade now can’t let go of lacrosse.

Last season, she was unequivocally the best player on the team and one of the ACC’s top attack players. Her 75 goals were ninth in the country. The next-closest on the team was then-freshman Meaghan Tyrrell with 37, followed by classmate Megan Carney with 32. Still, Syracuse fell to Northwestern in the NCAA quarterfinals, leaving Hawryschuk with a similar feeling of dissatisfaction.

As a senior, Hawryschuk has done a little reminiscing. She’ll miss the bus rides, the “little bondings” on away trips, the karaoke parties, the team trips to the “mansion” in Florida. Unlike in high school, she can’t go much further. The only thing left to accomplish is a championship.

“I just want to win,” Hawryschuk said, “That’s the only thing I wanted to do, and that’s still the only thing I want to do now. I want to win a national championship.”

Cover photo by Elizabeth Billman | Asst. Photo Editor