In the MIAA division A final against McDonogh (Maryland) School, Brendan Curry, a senior at Calvert Hall College (Maryland) High School, sized up his defender. McDonogh, the reigning state champions at the time, opted to faceguard Curry, smothering the midfielder near the 50-yard line.

Curry had the defender beat from the start. He stepped quickly to his left then split-dodged back to his right. Before the McDonogh defender could flip his hips back around, Curry was several steps ahead. As the long-stick midfielder stumbled and Curry approached the cage, another defender slid at Curry. That defender also slipped, as Curry blew by him too, before dumping the ball off to his teammate for a goal.

By the final whistle, Curry had accumulated four goals, two of which came with his non-dominant left hand, two assists and a state title. Curry’s top-notch speed, which developed over his four years at Calvert Hall, elevated his game. And less than a year later, the skills displayed late in his high school career are what has launched Curry into the top-six midfielder rotation for No. 12 Syracuse (2-1), which faces No. 4 Virginia (4-0) on Sunday at 3 p.m.

“He’s got a great first step, and he’s got quickness,” SU head coach John Desko said. “And then he has the speed on top of it, so not only can he use his first step to get by his defenseman, but then he can accelerate away from him.”

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One of the first times Curry ran ahead of all the other players was when he was 5 years old. His father, Todd, a three-time All-American midfielder at SU, noticed the ball was always on the ground and constantly resulted in a large scrum. So he told his son that whenever he scooped a ground ball he must first escape defensive pressure. Then, he was to bring his stick up near his helmet to defend from checks.

Curry followed his father’s instructions verbatim. Curry scooped the ball, and as he darted away from the pack of defenders he trapped his stick against his facemask, ensuring no defender could get the ball out.

“At that point I knew one thing,” Todd said. “He is listening. He might not get it all, but he just wants to try it all.”

That attention to detail paid dividends for Curry. He made the Calvert Hall varsity team as a freshman but experienced two injury-riddled seasons. Todd estimates Curry weighed about 135 pounds as a freshman, and Calvert Hall head coach Bryan Kelly described Curry as a “frail guy” as an underclassman.

In the summer after his sophomore season, Curry grew. He trained at Calvert Hall and with a local Baltimore strength coach. Curry’s strength immediately improved. Having entered the training facility with limited experience in strength training, he left a much different athlete.

He worked on his first step, something that sets him apart even at the college level, through various sprint exercises. Some began on the ground. From a lying position, Curry would spring to his feet before bursting into a sprint. Others started in a normal stance, but the emphasis on explosion and a quick first step, two things which translate directly to lacrosse, remained. Due to lacrosse’s stop-and-go pace, Curry didn’t run 40-yard dashes. Instead he ran shorter intervals, 10 or 20-yard dashes.

“(Calvert Hall) just really harped on not just getting big and bulky,” Curry said. “But definitely flexibility and quickness.”

The body-weight increase came for Curry as well. His trainers had a simple system to keep track of athletes’ diets: pictures. Before meals, Curry would text a picture of what he was eating and then follow advice on what he needed more of on his plate, or if a second helping was necessary.

A growth spurt accompanied Curry’s intensified training regiment. Between his sophomore and junior seasons, both Todd and Curry estimate he added somewhere between 20 and 30 pounds and grew 3 or 4 inches.

The added size and strength couldn’t solve everything, though. Fractured ribs forced Curry to miss six weeks at the beginning of his junior season. When he came back, the attack was already established, Curry said, so he transitioned to a full-time midfielder.

Curry found attacking from the top-side of the cage preferable. There was more room to work and he could release a shot at any moment.

“Shooting down the alley, sweeping, it’s just a totally different game,” Curry said, “because right when you get your hands free from the midfield you can shoot.”

Curry, who is now listed at 6-feet and 165 pounds, said speed and explosiveness are still his main training focuses. And the results haven’t dropped off at the D-I level. Curry scored in SU’s first game of the season off a dodge down the alley in which he created enough separation from his defender for a shot.

Oftentimes when he’s on the field, Curry receives the ball at the top corner of the restraining box, stares down his defender and dashes down the alley or sweeps across the set, sometimes faking one to gain an advantage on the other.

“That first step is just something,” Curry said. “Because everyone is pretty fast once they get going, it’s that first step that’s pretty important in lacrosse.”

Published on February 28, 2018 at 9:34 pm

Contact Josh: jlschafe@syr.edu | @Schafer_44