Temple’s Belle Mastropietro set a school record in lacrosse for draw controls. Here’s what they are and why it matters

Temple lacrosse’s Belle Mastropietro recently made program history.

The senior midfielder surpassed the draw control record set by former midfielder Kara Nakrasius, who finished with 236 career draw controls, by recording her 237th in a 14-10 win over Marist earlier this season. Mastropietro currently has 256 career draw controls.

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“I have really tried to grow my skill at the draw [control] over the past couple of years,” Mastropietro said. “Freshman year, I really didn’t know what I was doing. To see how far I’ve kind of come and how much better I’ve gotten, the fact that I reached that milestone was really special for me.”

But first ...

Draw controls are a staple of women’s lacrosse.

Two players line up against each other inside a circle at center field, and the ball is placed between their sticks. As the referee blows the whistle, each team scrambles to win possession.

Temple’s draw control unit is made up of three players. When Mastropietro takes the draw, two other Temple midfielders sprint from opposite wings to support her efforts.

Essentially, it’s women’s lacrosse’s equivalent of a faceoff. With most lacrosse games tending to be high-scoring affairs, gaining extra possessions at the draw control circle is a must.

“She is strong,” said Temple head coach Bonnie Rosen. “She’s got quick hands. She’s smart, and she can track down a ball and get it, whether it’s in the air or on the ground.

Through Temple’s first eight games, Mastropietro led the Owls with 52 draw controls. In that span, Temple won five of seven games in which it won the draw battle. What the record does not acknowledge is how many of the draws she’s taken that she has helped direct that other people have been able to get.

“It only recognizes the ones that she gained possession, Rosen said, “not the ones that she’s been a part of helping somebody else gain possession.”

An underrated part of Mastropietro’s record is the mental aspect. For each draw control, she must understand the positioning of her teammates and what each of them does best.

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Learning from former teammates helped Mastropietro improve. When she first committed to Temple, draw controls were not something that she excelled at. It’s something Mastropietro worked on behind the scenes.

One of her role models was former Owls midfielder Bridget Whitaker, who also was a Springfield High School teammate of hers and was a first-team All-American Athletic Conference selection in 2021, when she set the single-season draw control record with 87.

“I definitely learned a lot [from] [her],” Mastropietro said of Whitaker. “I’ve been able to look up to her. I had like four years to kind of just watch her and learn from her. Once I got to Temple, we would do these draw [control] practices, so I had an opportunity to kind of go against her in these practices.”

“It’s definitely challenging, especially for Belle, because you’re the one taking the draw. Then, you have so many people relying on you to set the tone. ... It’s a tough position, but Belle is doing a phenomenal job doing that.”

— Kara Nakrasius, Delaware assistant women’s lacrosse assistant coach

“She is having to take on that physicality, that focus, that thinking the entire game. She is not getting breaks. She’s on the attacking end. She’s playing the ball throughout the transition. She is on the defensive end. Then she goes right back to the center and has to get locked into that next moment every time.”

— Bonnie Rosen, Temple head women’s lacrosse coach.

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