Natalie Smith stars in No. 5 Syracuse’s new-look attack

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Dave Kotowski sent a simple, two-line text message that meant much more than it showed.

“Thanks for believing in Nat. She is absolutely killing it.”

To that, former Syracuse women’s lacrosse head coach Gary Gait responded that he “always loved that kid.”

Yet, when Natalie Smith was recruited out of high school, not everyone felt the same. Kotowski — the founder and CEO of Team Elevate, the club team Smith grew up playing for on Long Island, New York — said her 5-foot-4 frame shied Division I programs away. Smith had the skill and intangibles to excel. She just needed a chance on the field.

She got her chance at Syracuse. Though she played sparingly as a freshman, Smith rapidly became a key piece of SU’s midfield as a sophomore before becoming a starter as a junior. Through six games of her senior season, Smith is SU’s second-leading scorer (15 goals). Smith is on track for a career-best season while emerging as a leader on the attack following Meaghan Tyrrell, Megan Carney and Sierra Cockerille’s graduations.

“I know when I was a freshman, it was a lot to take in that first day,” Smith said. “But the people before me really told me how great I was and how great I could be so I think just listening to that (really helped).”

Though SU lost its 2024 season opener to then-No. 1 Northwestern, Smith’s expanded role was on full display. She notched a hat trick and tied her career-high with four points.

Then on Feb. 24 versus then-No. 2 Notre Dame, Syracuse was on the brink of falling to 1-3 as it trailed 10-6 at halftime in South Bend, Indiana. But Smith stepped up. In the third quarter, she scored three of her team-high four goals. Across the frame, the Orange outscored the Fighting Irish 6-1, taking a 12-11 lead into the fourth. They closed the game out with a 16-14 win.

“We’ve had so many threats in the past couple of years and she knows and understands that it’s her time,” said Syracuse head coach Kayla Treanor on Feb. 27. “She has the green light to be dominant and go for it and she’s been great.”

Through Syracuse’s first six games, Natalie Smith has scored 15 goals — the second most on the team. She is six goals away from tying her career-high 21, which she set across 21 games in 2023. Joe Zhao | Asst. Photo Editor

To position herself to thrive as a midfielder for Syracuse, Smith has consistently been guided by veteran voices.

She first picked up a lacrosse stick when she was 4, influenced by her older sister Olivia — who played at the University of Pennsylvania — and her father Peter — who was a goalie at the University of Massachusetts.

Olivia, who is three years older, said lacrosse was natural for Smith. As a third-grader, she joined Olivia on Team Elevate. For 10 years, she was coached by Kotowski’s daughter Victoria, who previously played collegiately at Lehigh. Victoria was instantly impressed by Smith.

“The first five minutes (we) met Nat, we knew she was going to be one of the best athletes we’ve ever coached,” Victoria said.

While coaching Smith, Victoria helped her learn how to utilize her smaller frame, improve her fitness and develop her signature sidearm shot. But some of Smith’s best experiences came from playing with Olivia’s team.

Smith played up for the first time as a fifth-grader with Olivia’s eighth-grade team. Despite being “tiny,” as Victoria described, Smith said she was oblivious to the age gap and was just excited to play.

“She’s never complacent, she’s always looking to grow and she’s always looking to challenge herself,” Olivia said. “She always puts herself with the best because if you want to be the best, you gotta play with the best and she’s really lived by that.”

A few years later, when Smith was in middle school, Olivia’s team traveled upstate for a tournament in Lake Placid. Smith tagged along for the trip and Dave asked her to suit up for the team.

Dave said the team trusted that a much younger Smith could contribute against elite competition. In one game, she was cross checked and got “absolutely flattened” by an opposing player who earned a red card, he said.

Instead of leaving the field, she popped right back up. Dave went over to Smith and told her to catch her breath. Once she was fine, he told Smith to get back out there, get the ball and rip it as hard as she possibly could. Smith listened, trotted back onto the field and scored the game’s next goal.

“I think (playing up) prepared me even for college. You’re not going to play with people that are the same age as you,” Smith said, “so you just have to really gel with it and go with the flow.”

As she grew up, Smith continuously improved her game, following in Olivia’s footsteps to Saint Anthony’s High School — an athletic powerhouse on Long Island. Between Team Elevate and Saint Anthony’s, Smith consistently played with and against high-level talent.

Smith helped lead Saint Anthony’s to a 2019 New York State championship while simultaneously thriving with Team Elevate. Her development led her to become Inside Lacrosse’s No. 92 recruit in the class of 2020. She committed to Syracuse in January 2019.

Despite her pre-college success, Smith was buried on SU’s depth chart as a freshman in 2021. She only played in six games and didn’t record a point. Victoria said it’s a phenomenon many former high school stars have to deal with in college.

“Unfortunately, it’s a tough process for a lot of people, but you see someone like Nat … She’s the kind of kid that is actually going to hone in those relationships and learn from them instead of be frustrated and not understand why she’s not playing,” Victoria said.

Upon arriving in Syracuse, Smith instantly clicked with then-junior Cockerille. As midfielders, they often battled in practice, which prompted Cockerille to take Smith under her wing.

That season, Cockerille was an All-ACC Second Team selection but still took the time to mentor Smith. Though Cockerille and Smith didn’t play consistently together until 2023 — as Cockerille suffered a season-ending injury in 2022 — they developed a sister-like relationship with Cockerille admiring Smith’s competitiveness.

“She competes every single day, works her ass off every single day to come in and show that she belongs on the field and she produces,” Cockerille said.

That season, Smith enjoyed a breakout sophomore campaign, notching 24 points including a career-high 11 assists primarily coming off the bench.

Following Sam Swart and Tessa Queri’s graduation, Smith got her first chance to regularly start in 2023, starting 18 of SU’s 21 games in a season where it reached the NCAA Tournament semifinals.

Smith added to SU’s deep attack, scoring a career-high 21 goals. In Syracuse’s 25-8 bludgeoning of Johns Hopkins in the NCAA Tournament, she notched a career-high four goals.

But after the Orange’s 8-7 semifinal loss to Boston College, the roster’s makeup drastically changed. Cockerille no longer had eligibility. Tyrrell and Carney — the team’s highest and third-highest point scorers, respectively — were gone, too.

After learning from the trio over her first three Syracuse seasons, she sees her senior year as the time to implement what she learned into her game.

“I think the people before me on this team have been great players, so it’s definitely something that I learned to watch and actually take in and try to use into my game,” Smith said.

While Smith is just beginning to thrive nationally, the dominance has always been there. Even when she was a “pipsqueak” third-grader meeting the Kotowski’s for the first time, she was meant to be a star.

“It’s always been Natalie’s time,” Victoria said.