When Caitlyn Dragon went down with a knee injury in January, a part of the team went down with her.

Dragon, a sophomore attack, was slated to start this spring for the Syracuse women’s lacrosse team. But when the Orangewomen open their regular season against Virginia on March 1, she won’t get the chance.

‘I was pretty devastated,’ Dragon said of her injury.

The Orangewomen will play without Dragon when they scrimmage at Pennsylvania on Saturday morning at 10. It will be SU’s final tune-up before its regular-season opener.

Not only will the Orangewomen miss Dragon at attack, but many players will have to play out of position. A committee of freshmen will likely fill Dragon’s spot, with as many as three seeing time at attack.

This year was supposed to be Dragon’s breakout season. As the feeder — the player who directs traffic from behind the goal — she’s supposed to be the smartest player on the field.

The injury, a tear in the meniscus in her left knee, could’ve sidelined Dragon for as little as three weeks. But after a Feb. 3 surgery, doctors told Dragon to expect to sit three months.

Dragon’s currently on crutches, icing and stretching the knee, and will soon undergo a two- to three-month recovery period.

Although Dragon has accepted that she’ll miss most, if not all, of the season, the circumstances surrounding the injury still elude her.

Dragon first noticed a problem on the third day of practice, in January, when her knee would randomly buckle.

‘At first, I thought my knee was tired or weak,” Dragon said. “But when I got the MRI, it showed that I needed surgery.”

Doctors told her she probably injured the knee during a fall in the preseason, in which she established herself as one of SU’s most improved players.

In a fall tournament at Rutgers, SU coaches noticed dramatic improvement in Dragon’s game from last season. In six games last year, Dragon scored two goals and had zero assists.

‘She had an outstanding tournament,’ senior attack Erin MacDonald said. ‘We were looking for her to do big things.’

Dragon’s injury set the Orangewomen back. Instead of an experienced attack line with MacDonald and Dragon, the Orangewomen must utilize freshmen Melody Agnew and Evelyn Long, among others.

‘We lost our feeder and a really good shooter,’ head coach Lisa Miller said. ‘She’s really smart. She thinks the game, she knows the game.’

Because of her size, the 6-foot Dragon is perfect for the feeder role. She can see and pass over the goal to cutting teammates.

‘Caitlyn’s into instructing,’ MacDonald said. ‘She teaches girls when she’s out there.’

Dragon will have to wait until at least April to get back to the teacher role. Then, Miller must decide whether to let Dragon play when she returns — possibly in time for the NCAA Tournament — or give her a medical redshirt, granting her another year of eligibility.

‘I still have two more years left,’ Dragon said. ‘I don’t feel like I lost a chance, it’s just a setback.’

Published on February 20, 2003 at 12:00 pm