Each week, The Baltimore Sun will publish a Q&A with a college lacrosse player or coach to get you better acquainted with the player and his/her team. Today's guest is North Carolina faceoff specialist Stephen Kelly, a sophomore who won 20 of 32 draws in Sunday's 19-12 victory over Colgate in an NCAA tournament first-round game. The 20 faceoff wins by the Lutherville resident and Calvert Hall graduate, who also collected 11 ground balls, marked just the eighth time in Tar Heel history that a player had recorded 20 or more in a contest. Kelly has won 50.5 percent (202-of-400) of his faceoffs this season and leads the team with 97 ground balls.
How did it feel to win 20 faceoffs on Sunday?
It felt good. This year has been a huge learning curve for me with the new rules implemented at the beginning of the year. I've had to go through a lot of adjustments as far as my technique and stance. So it felt good that at a big time in the playoffs, I'm finally hitting a good groove and was able to have a good game. My wings had a great game, too, and hopefully, we can keep that momentum going forward into the next game.
Very often, media and fans focus on the players who post goals and assists, but how much satisfaction do you take in knowing that you contributed to the team's win?
It's always a big factor going into every game for our team and I'm sure for a lot of teams. A lot of times, the teams that can do well at the faceoff X and control the ground ball game are going to win the game. With the team, that's always a very important factor. Whenever I have a good game, the coaches point out it was a major factor, but there are times when if I'm not having as good of a game, the team picks me up with other things. Inside the locker room, the faceoff unit knows that it's a very important part of the game.
Can you describe the feeling of getting into a zone on faceoffs?
You have the whistle down, your timing is great every time, your technique is working well, and you're getting into that groove where you're just quicker and over the ball before the other guys is, on pretty much every whistle. That's always nice getting into a groove, especially as a game goes on because you can get used to the whistle and how each ref is going to handle each faceoff. As a faceoff guy, that's what you're looking to do and if you can get in that groove, it can definitely be a game-changing moment.
When did you feel like that on Sunday?
I thought at the end of the third quarter and the whole fourth quarter, I felt like I was getting into a pretty good groove. There were some points when we went back and forth, and the wings picked me up with some big ground balls. As the game went on in that second half, I felt like I was getting into that groove where I was pulling the ball out every time and getting it to myself or the team. It felt like I had the whistles down pretty well, and I felt confident in my technique, and that's a huge thing. The last thing you want to do as a faceoff guy is think to yourself, 'Don't jump,' or you're thinking about little things. You've just got to have that confidence where all you're thinking about is getting the ball. I felt like that was definitely my mindset throughout the game on Sunday, which helped me get into that groove as the game went on.
Who is the toughest opponent you've battled with on faceoffs?
This year, I've had to go against some of the top guys – [freshman] Trevor Baptiste of Denver, [sophomore] Ben Williams from Syracuse. This will be my second time going against [senior] Charlie Raffa from Maryland. I went against [senior] Kevin Massa from Bryant. So I've gone against the cream of the crop in faceoff guys and it's definitely helped me this year. I think they're all great guys and great players, and they've all given me tough looks. With the learning curve I've gone through, it's definitely been a learning experience. I've had some off games — at least by my standards — during the year, and it's definitely been a humbling experience. Some of those guys I named are known nationwide in the lacrosse world as some of the top faceoff guys and some of them had breakout years this year. Each opponent I try to treat the same with the same respect, and I try to go in prepared and focused on what I have to do. This weekend, I'm going against Charlie Raffa again, who is a very talented faceoff guy and has shown that throughout his career. That will be a challenge, and I'm excited to go after it.