Syracuse women’s lacrosse head coach Lisa Miller walked on the Carrier Dome turf Monday afternoon, speakerphone in hand. She was at practice, early as usual, to work with the goalies the day before a game. She shouted commands jokingly at the handful of players stretching on the sideline and followed with the tune of Happy Birthday – even though none of her players were celebrating one.

After almost 25 years in the young sport of women’s lacrosse, Miller has accomplished just about everything there is to accomplish. She is enshrined at her high school, in Thayer Academy’s Hall of Fame in Massachusetts. She was an All-American at William & Mary and she played for the U.S. Women’s National Team.

Now that her playing days are over, the only accolades she strives for are as the coach of SU. Today, she will focus on Colgate at 4 p.m. at the Dome.

Still, people remember how great Miller was as a player. On March 20, William & Mary recognized her by inducting her into its hall of fame.

Miller is third on the school’s career scoring list and fifth on the career points list, almost 17 years after her graduation.

She’s used to the acclaim, but it was never what Miller was about.

‘It’s nice to be recognized by your college because I really love William & Mary,’ Miller said. ‘But you’re only as good as the players around you.’

After four years under Miller’s wing, senior captain Jacquelyn Walker has learned to expect that same humility and focus on the present day.

‘She doesn’t make a big deal out of anything,’ Walker said. ‘She only mentioned (her induction) on her way out of town. She told us that’s where she was going to be.’

Miller was always athletically inclined as a child, and she picked lacrosse up quicker than a 5-year-old snatches a quarter off the pavement. In her hometown of Plymouth, Mass., there were no youth lacrosse leagues for girls. She played soccer in sixth and seventh grade but never experienced the sport she would grow to love.

‘Until ninth grade, I had never seen it before,’ Miller said. ‘I was on the soccer field and some upperclassmen came over and talked me into playing it.’

Miller came from a family that valued sports. Her brothers played hockey and her mother always pushed her on the athletic field.

‘She’s insanely competitive,’ Miller said. ‘I’ve just been lucky that my parents didn’t tell me I was wonderful when I wasn’t. My mother was always yelling at me and my father was there to balance her off.’

Miller now tries to instill some of the same values in her players.

‘I just like my kids to compete,’ Miller said. ‘I like independent thought. I’m not looking for them to run fast and shoot hard. You have to recruit girls who can be physically competitive, but they need to think on the field.’

This season, the No. 9 Orangewomen (4-2, 1-1 Big East) have bought in to Miller’s system. Although inconsistent at times, SU has played well against higher-ranked opponents.

‘We’ve started to move a lot better on offense,’ Miller said. ‘We just need to tighten up a little on defense.’

Miller has been with the SU women’s lacrosse program since its inception. In her seventh season, she has a 67-31 record and she has brought the Orangewomen to four NCAA Tournaments.

If she continues to coach the same way she played, there is no doubt she will get a collection of awards to match those she received for her play on the field.

Published on March 28, 2004 at 12:00 pm