The Draw Won the Game: Sam Smith's Historic WLL All-Star Performance
The first-ever Women's Lacrosse League All-Star game had everything you'd expect from an all-star event — elite talent, highlight-reel plays, and a packed scoreboard. Team Izzy beat Team North 24-20. But if you watched this game closely, you know the score was settled long before the final whistle. It was settled in the draw circle. Every single time.
One Player. One Skill. One Dominant Performance.
Sam Smith of Team Izzy did something at the WLL All-Star game that left commentators searching for comparisons — and coming up empty.
She won the opening draw. Then the next one. Then the one after that.
By the ten-minute mark, Smith had won six of seven draws for Team Izzy. By the 23-minute mark, she was 11 for 12. She hit a streak of 10 in a row. At the half, the numbers were staggering: 19 for 22 in the draw circle. Team Izzy had 21 draw controls in the first half. Team North had four.
One commentator said it plainly: "I've never seen a performance like that at any level."
The second half was more of the same. Smith went 13 for 0 at one point. She put together a 14-draw winning streak. By the time the game ended, she had gone 38 for 43 overall — with 39 of Team Izzy's 40 total draw controls on the game.
Team North finished with 7.
Team North Tried Everything. Nothing Worked.
Here's the part that puts Smith's performance in full context: Team North didn't just accept what was happening. They adapted. They rotated. They sent seven different draw takers into the circle against Smith — each one a player who had been among the best at her college program.
None of them found an answer.
Late in the fourth quarter, Lizzie Coulson finally broke through with two consecutive wins — the only meaningful interruption in an otherwise complete shutout. By that point, the game was effectively over.
The WLL Draw Format Made It Even More Transparent
One thing worth noting for coaches watching this game: the WLL uses a draw format where wing players are positioned well off the circle. As the broadcast explained, "the two wing players are not on the circle. They're much further out. So it's really just a competition between the two draw takers, which makes a very clean possession."
No wings crashing in to bail anyone out. No chaos to mask a bad draw. Just technique, timing, and repetition — one-on-one, every time.
That format exposed the gap between players who have truly mastered the draw and those who haven't. Smith operated in that space like she owned it.
Draw Control Is Possession. Possession Is Scoring.
The final score was 24-20. That is a competitive-looking margin. But when one team controls 40 draws and the other controls 7, the outcome is not really in question. The game is decided before it's played.
That is the real lesson from this All-Star game, and it applies at every level — high school, club, college, and beyond.
Coaches who want to understand why their team struggles to generate consistent offense often focus on the attack. The draw circle is where the conversation should start. Every draw control is a possession. Every possession is an opportunity. When your team loses the draw 40-to-7, you are not getting chances — you are spending the entire game chasing.
Sam Smith gave every coach and player watching a masterclass in what genuine draw dominance looks like and what it produces.
Train the Skill That Changes the Outcome
What Smith demonstrated is not accidental. Draw control at that level is the result of deliberate, high-repetition training — working on timing, grip, body positioning, and draw height under conditions that replicate game pressure.
That kind of training requires a tool built specifically for it. At Draw Pro Lacrosse, that is exactly what we make. If you are a draw specialist or a coach developing one, the path forward is clear: put in the reps, master the technique, and control the possession.
The first-ever WLL All-Star game just showed the world what that looks like when it is done right.
Win the Draw. Win the Game.
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