May 14, 2008

by Clare Lochary, Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff

Katie Rowan doesn't seem to keep score all that much. Maybe when you score 136 points in a season and 278 in your career, it's easy to lose track.

For example, the Syracuse junior attacker didn't realize her 13 points (5g, 8a) against Towson in the Orange's 21-9 first-round victory broke an NCAA Division I women's lacrosse tournament single-game record. Syracuse's first female Tewaaraton finalist expressed only mild surprise and pleasure at being a record-setter.

That it was Jen Adams' record - 11 points against Monmouth in 2001 - got a bit more of a rise.

"I didn't know I broke her record. Wow. That's pretty good," said Rowan.

It's more than pretty good. This season, Rowan obliterated her own single-season record (89 points in 2007), and pulled into first place on Syracuse's all-time scoring list. Actually, she's closing in fast on her coach, Orange legend Gary Gait, who scored 192 career goals from 1987 to 1990.

"Are you serious? Oh, I'll definitely have to tease him about that," said Rowan, who has 176 career goals.

That's not bad for someone who only started playing attack her senior year of high school. Rowan's high school coach and Syracuse volunteer assistant Scott Battaglino advocates that young players should try every position before specializing.

Based solely on Rowan, it's a good theory. She is the points leader on the nation's best offense (18.80 goals per game), one that is on pace to break Northwestern's all-time record (16.40 gpg) set just last season. The Orange, literally and figuratively, towers over the competition. Rowan is one of five Syracuse players who stand 5'11", and two more are 5'10".

"You kind of run out of size match-ups for a team like Syracuse," said Towson head coach Missy Doherty. "Rowan has great size, good stick protection. She knows when to drive to the cage and when to pull out and make that pass."

Rowan doesn't have the hardest shot on the team (that would be either Megan Mosenson or Halley Quillinan), but she can place the ball at will. While she says her stick skills and dodging prowess have improved under Gait, this season's success (17-2) has more to do with swagger than with strategy.

"They always have been fairly physical as a team, but this year they've added a little more finesse, especially in their offensive end. They definitely have achieved a higher sense of confidence on the offense," said Doherty.

While it might have been fun to get a rematch against Virginia in the quarterfinals and avenge one of the Orange's two regular-season losses, Rowan's happy to draw North Carolina, which upset the Cavaliers, 11-7, in the first round of the tournament.

"I'm really excited to play a new team. I like seeing how they play defense and being creative in order to beat them," said Rowan, who likens attack to the academic side of her life, in which she is an elementary education major with a special education concentration.

"With kids, you're always problem-solving. You never know what's going to be thrown at you," she said. "It's about being on your toes."

The Tar Heels can expect the Orange to be on its toes for Saturday's match-up in the Carrier Dome. Syracuse is determined to reach the first final four in program history. Rowan especially likes to see her team cresting with the Syracuse men's team, which meets Notre Dame the same day in an NCAA quarterfinal in Ithaca, N.Y.

"We're pretty excited with the boys still going to the next round too. We want to win two titles," said Rowan.

Did she know that it has been 14 years since the last double-barreled lacrosse championship, when Princeton captured the men's and women's trophies in 1994? Nope. Really, she's just not a numbers person.

"It's funny, because everyone does look at the numbers on attack, but you can't forget about the midfield and all the hard work that's done there," said Rowan. "And our goalie [Liz Hogan] is so good as a freshman. I think she's one of the best goalies in the country. Our attack is doing really well this year, but I don't think that can really take away from the team."

So Katie Rowan doesn't really keep track of that sort of thing. But plenty of people are keeping track of her.

Contact Clare Lochary at clochary@uslacrosse.org.