How UAlban’y’s Fields learned to score
ALBANY, N.Y. » Still covered in full lacrosse gear, minus the helmet, Connor Fields did his rounds with the local media, speaking to anyone who asked for his time.
It was a hot, sun-soaked spring afternoon. The same day that Fields, the nation’s best offensive player, was put on the Tewaaraton watchlist for the nation’s best player.
Everyone wants to talk to Fields because everyone wants to understand the intricacies of what he does so well. Score. From all angles. From every release point.
On an offense full of capable scorers, he’s the scorer.
“You always have an opportunity late in the game to have the ball in your stick,” Fields said. “And it’s really nice to have and it’s an honor.”
The answer as to why Fields is capable has a lot to do with his development outside the field lacrosse game. He’s grew up playing box lacrosse in western New York, a different version of the game that places an emphasis on the intricacies in the offense. He played ice hockey up until college, which gave him a wrist-flick underhand shot that’s somewhat of a signature.
As Fields took a question about why he still goes home in the summer and plays box lacrosse, head coach Scott Marr, standing several yards away interjected, “because he needs to.” Fields has 108 points this season, including 51 goals. He’s 20 points away from the Division-
I record set by former teammate Lyle Thompson.
And that’s the name he always gets compared to. And its right. Thompson is probably the greatest college lacrosse player ever. And Fields, now a junior, has seen his game evolve from a finisher of Thompson’s passes as a freshman, to a player nearly equal to his effectiveness. And with the NCAA Tournament starting on Saturday night at home against defending champion North Carolina, he’s hoping to start on a championship journey that no other Albany team has previously taken. Face-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
“There’s a lot of guys out there that are good,” Marr said. “Connor is on a high level. But there’s a lot of kids in the country that are skilled that way too, that can really play and shoot the ball that way. What makes Connor unique is that he’s a full package. He rides. He passes. He scores. He’s a triple threat in a way. You don’t know what he’s going to do with the ball.”
When Fields dodges, he tries to never show repetitive tendencies. Whether that means using his dominant left hand, or his right hand. He adjusts his speed based on how quick the defense moves to him. He says he likes to change things to “keep them guessing” on what he’s going to do next.
Early in the year he worked hard on going to his right hand more, and it’s become an added dimension of his skill set in 2017. Last year he never went up the right side at all. Fields says the box lacrosse game, which has a smaller field, crease and net, has helped him be way more conscious of “hands in space”.
“It helps with your quick release, your touch on the net,” Fields said. “You develop a couple different shots in box lacrosse with your dominant hand that definitely help you out here. With your space, you get used to being in tight situations in box. In field, when you dodge on your man, he’s on your back, you can lean in and pop out. A little bounce dodge just to get a little separation.”
Ask Marr about Fields’ box experience and he’ll start talking about Wayne Gretzky, an athlete who was just that, an athlete. Someone who excelled in one sport, famous for that success. But had a background in many others. Someone who used their knowledge of other sports to enhance what already made them so great.
Up until the latter stages of his high school career, Fields considered playing hockey and not lacrosse. And even though he’s now retired from the competitive ranks of the sport, a lot of what he does is still relevant. The motion of shooting a puck, lifting it off the ground involves the same hand motion of a low-tohigh attempt for Fields in lacrosse.
As Fields mirrors it without any sort of stick in his hands, it’s easier to see. Easier to understand how the motions are no different to the naked eye.