In her freshman season, Natalie Smith didn’t record a single point. And after coming off the bench sophomore year, Smith has started in all 11 games this season, scoring three times more goals in 2023 than she did in her first eleven games of 2022. She attributes her increased confidence in large part to a game against then-No. 1 North Carolina last season, where she netted her first career hat trick.⁠ ⁠ Over the offseason, Smith began to shift from a defensive midfielder to a more offensive one. Doing so gave her a “newfound love for lacrosse,” one that’s tallied nine goals during SU’s perfect 11-0 start.⁠ ⁠ “Her confidence is something that I really look up to and just how much determination she has. It was really inspiring to me. For her to kind of just like come out of her shell and really go to net was something that we really needed,” Syracuse midfielder Maddy Baxter said.⁠ ⁠ Click the link in our bio to learn more about Smith’s confidence boost. Photograph by @prod_adp.