Midfielder Laurel Gonzalez made history in Johns Hopkins women’s lacrosse’s season opener by breaking the program record for draw controls by a freshman. Five games later, she topped her own mark.
Gonzalez wasn’t done leaving her mark in the program record books. She controlled 18 draws against Oregon on March 30, breaking Shelby Harrison’s record for draws in a season as a freshman while simultaneously setting a single-game record by any player in school history.
The San Diego, Calif. native is second in program history in single-season draw controls, on pace to top Jennifer Barry’s mark (133) by the end of the season. She has starred in the role despite playing a position she wasn’t even recruited to play.
“One of the funnier things is we knew she could take draws, but she was recruited as a two-way midfielder,” head coach Tim McCormack said. “What we’ve seen from her in the draw area, it’s incredible.”
Gonzalez was among the players McCormack had compete last fall and early this spring to determine a solution in the circle. The coach needed to replace 86 percent of the Blue Jays’ draw controls from last season. McCormack felt Gonzalez, who has always prioritized playing on the outside, had a slight edge in the competition and was awarded the starting spot.
Gonzalez has worked closely with assistant coach Jill Girardi, who specialized in draws during her career at Northwestern. Gonzalez takes every piece of information Girardi provides to heart and tries to implement those specifics into her game. Girardi works with Gonzalez on draws every day before practice, often mimicking the way other teams attack the position.
Gonzalez has endured a couple of poor performances, like a shutout at the hands of Loyola All-American Chase Boyle and a four-draw outing against Northwestern’s Sam Smith, but she still led the Big Ten in draw controls this year in mid-April.
“The biggest thing I’ve learned now that I’m later in the season is that going into a game with confidence changes everything,” Gonzalez said. “A lot of it is mental.”
The little experience Gonzalez had with draws before this year primarily came when she was at Torrey Pines High School in San Diego. She dominated the spot as a freshman, Falcons head coach Kaitlin Doucette said. Doucette says Gonzalez had all the traits needed to excel at the draw — control, composure, instinct and feel.
“She’s just one of those athletes who kind of gets it,” Doucette said. “… I think it’s an understanding of nuance associated with the physics of the draw.”
Doucette created the rec program that Gonzalez played in and already had a history coaching one of Gonzalez’s older sisters. Doucette knew as Gonzalez progressed through the system — the club team was a feeder into Torrey Pines — that she was going to be a special player.
Various coaches told Gonzalez that if she wanted to get noticed, she had to travel to the East Coast. Tournaments and recruiting on the West Coast are “basically non-existent” given the distinct drop-off in skill level between the coasts, according to Gonzalez.
Gonzalez was on the East Coast for multiple weeks at a time during the summer of 2022, for example.
“It felt like my whole summer was being spent in hotels,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez then visited three schools in one weekend in September 2022. Johns Hopkins was the first visit. Gonzalez told her parents after that she “could 100 percent” see herself going there, so she committed to the Blue Jays in October 2022.
McCormack says there was an “unbelievable upward swing” in Gonzalez’s ability and confidence between the time she committed and graduated from high school in 2024. The coach sensed a certain steadiness from the moment fall practice began.
“We trusted her to be able to step in and do it, didn’t really feel like she needed any pep talking,” McCormack said. “She just has a sense of calm about her that showed us she’s good. I don’t have to get in the way, just almost stay out of the way and let her do her thing. And she’s done it.”
Gonzalez said that despite excelling in high school, a lot of her success at the draw came through sheer strength. She didn’t fully understand the specific techniques that come with the position, and so according to McCormack, has a curiosity that isn’t often found in players.
McCormack said Gonzalez is always “looking for the how.”
“Just because I got these records or whatever, there’s a lot more to still prove,” Gonzalez said. “I’m just excited to … keep breaking these records.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Johns Hopkins Athletics