Your edge // players
HANDS-FREE DRIVER
Yale super sophomore
Ben Reeves keeps his stick protected and head up all over the field
AS TOLD TO COREY MCLAUGHLIN
Ben Reeves was great as a freshman. The Ivy League Rookie of the Year award he picked up in 2015 says so. But he was even better as a sophomore. By the end of this regular season, the attackman had 35 goals and 26 assists to rank seventh nationally with 4.96 points per game for a Yale team that had designs on a deep postseason run. One of Reeves’ points of emphasis? Keeping the ball safe. “This year, I’ve really tried to focus on stick protection. Last year, I had a few games where I’d be running and get checked and the ball would come out,” Reeves said, adding it has helped to match up against All-American defenseman Michael Quinn in every practice for two years. Reeves is a natural lefty, but has worked on his right. And
he’s also settled into his quarterback role all over the field. Here, Reeves, who is a molecular, cellular and developmental biology major at Yale, gives insight into how to carry the ball and read the defense from the wing, at point-behind and up top.
ON THE WING, LEFTY
When I’m wrapping around the goal, I try to keep the stick as in close to my body as possible. When I shoot, I try to get it as far as away from the defense. Our coaches always say extend your hands to the sideline. The d-pole can’t get there. Or I put it out in front of me, straight up to the midfield.
56 LACROSSE MAGAZINE »JUNE 2016
MAKE THE V
Put your elbow to your rib and make a V with your arm and put your hand on the upper part of your stick. That’s the big No. 1. But it can be a feel thing. Sometimes you want it close. Sometimes you want it far away, just keep it away from the defenseman as much as possible.
MY READ
I shoot this shot a lot. I try to wraparound lefty pretty frequently, but I’m always looking upfield to see if somebody has a better shot. You always want to dodge with your head up, looking for cutters, the crease, and an open guy or always be ready to shoot.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
It sounds obvious, but I like to look at where the defense isn’t. Where you don’t see opposite color jerseys, you tend to find some of your guys streaking through there once in a while. You’re trying to find open space.
A Publication of US Lacrosse
©BILL DANIELEWSKI
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