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fter every lacrosse game, Emily Hawryschuk finds her parents, Nick and Melissa, first. Nick and her go back and forth about her performance — what went well, how Hawryschuk can improve and dissecting specific plays and goals.

If Nick says one of her shots went high, she’ll be prepared with an explanation. Blowout win or close loss, the same conversations follow each Syracuse game. Each time, Nick asks her the same question: “Did you give it everything you got?”

“It’s not about being perfect,” Nick said. “It’s about giving your best effort every day. Being the best you when you wake up.”

After tallying 378 points over two different high schools, Hawryschuk’s scored 109 in two seasons at Syracuse, earning First-Team All-ACC honors as a sophomore. Tireless training during the summer, winter breaks and time in between practices has led Hawryschuk to be the best she’s ever been, she said. Her dedication to lacrosse and improving in the sport can be traced off the field to the relationships she has with her family, who have instilled in her a “110 percent” mentality.

“My parents continue to coach me up,” Hawryschuk said, “at home it was always, if you put in the work, then you definitely have the chance.”

Nick was responsible for getting his daughter into the sport in the seventh grade. Prior to that, she starred as a soccer goalkeeper but had never held a lacrosse stick.

She practiced alone in her yard with only her stick, a bucket of balls and a goal. By the end of eighth grade, she was called up to her high school’s varsity team.

“When she came home, she’d grab a stick with all her brothers and sister and go out in the front yard in a two-on-two mini lacrosse game,” Nick said, “because she knew that her youngest brother may have had a game coming up … so she wanted to play with him or teach him some shooting, or teach him some cradling, or teach him how to be a better defender.”

Despite being 11 years older than her youngest brother, Mason, Hawryschuk still practices with him today because they play on opposite sides of the field. When she got to college, the two established a rule: Hawryschuk couldn’t go more than three days without coming home to see him.

After living on campus her first two years, Hawryschuk is back living at home. She travels nearly 90 minutes to school every day from her hometown of Victor, and scheduled her first class of the day each day past 11 a.m. to get by.

When she’d have tournaments in high school up and down the east coast, her family would go to watch, no matter the distance. On her brother Joey’s 10th birthday, the family drove nine hours to see Emily play.

“They were just always there,” said Kerrie Brown, Hawryschuk’s club coach. “It was kind of unreal. Her parents are unbelievable.”

Sticking out on Lady Roc, her high school club team, against the best players around the United States — and proving she was better — helped Hawryschuk gauge her talent level. It was there, as well, where Brown was able to see Hawryschuk’s commitment to the people around her first-hand.

During one game at the annual Star Spangled Lacrosse Tournament in Baldwinsville, Lady Roc was fooling around and committing careless turnovers. Brown pulled Hawryschuk aside and told her, “we’re gonna do things the Lady Roc way, or we’re not gonna do things.”

“All of a sudden you put her back in the game, and it was like, assist here, goal here, draw control,” Brown said. “She was having too much fun and had to be kind of humbled, and she took it so gracefully and did exactly what we needed.”

At Syracuse, Hawryschuk is the player that calms down the team, just like Brown calmed her down. While she’s generally a quiet person off the field, Hawryschuk is the player whose voice is heard when SU finds itself down a goal or two and huddles in need to get back on track, SU teammate Julie Cross said.

She’s developed into the go-to person for her teammates to talk to off the field, too. Everyone on the team respects Hawryschuk in part because of her loyalty to her family and the people around her.

“She’s not the typical college kid,” Asa Goldstock said. “She’s probably the most family-oriented person I’ve ever met in my life … If I ever need anything, anyone to lean on, or anyone to talk to, I’d always go to Emily.”

Entering her third year with her extended family, Hawryschuk’s level of comfort with her teammates has improved. After Syracuse’s worst season in program history, she’s hoping that the closeness and communication she’s developed with her family at home and with her team will translate into success on the field.

Last season, SU’s team motto was similar to her family’s philosophy: give it your all. Moving forward, she wants her team to make the motto a reality.

“Our team motto last year was, ‘be the best,’” Hawryschuk said. “As far as my life personally, I just want to give it everything that I have on the field and off the field, working my hardest, being a good person. Just being the best in all aspects.”

Photos by Max Freund | Staff Photographer