by Nick A. Zaino III, New England Lacrosse Journal


Julie Kraus has received most of the accolades a collegiate lacrosse player could hope for. Her bio on the Southern New Hampshire University women’s lacrosse page is clogged with them: First Team All-American from Inside Lacrosse Magazine, Northeast-10 Defensive Player of the Year, Second Team ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-American. She led the Penmen last year in three important defensive categories — ground balls, draw controls and caused turnovers.

But there is one important thing missing for Kraus, something that drives her, and drives any true competitor in sports.

“Those are all very shocking to me,” Kraus said of her honors. “Those are really cool, but I’m not done. Those aren’t my goal. My goal is for my team to win a championship.”

Kraus spoke just after a loss to Bentley that ended a five-game winning streak, and just before a win over American International. Heading into the last of the team’s regular-season games, the Penmen, a Division 2 team, were jockeying for position in the Northeast 10 Conference.

“It’s pretty aggressive in our conference,” Kraus said. “You have to watch out for everybody.”

It’s a stressful time for Kraus and her teammates, but she is hopeful that they will come through and win it all in her senior year.

“I think the competition [level] in our conference is very high,” Kraus said, “but I think our team can take anybody in our conference. I’m pretty confident.”

The team concept is a recurring topic with Kraus. The SNHU squad includes Kraus’ old Pinkerton Academy teammate Maura Murphy, and what surprises Kraus most is that those around her don’t get the same attention and awards she has enjoyed, that her school seems to be overlooked.

“That’s OK with us, because it’s not about the individual awards,” she said. “We just really care about our team playing the best. That’s the overall goal for the team and us individually. But I feel like a lot of the girls on our team get overlooked and they’re awesome players.”

One of the team’s greatest strengths, according to Kraus, is how close they are on and off the field. Ask Kraus about her growth as a player, and she will give the credit to her coach and her teammates, and even those she competes against, for having brought her along.

“You mostly learn from your teammates and your opponents,” she said. “I have great teammates and we all help each other learn every practice, every game. If we’re having a bad game, we go over and talk to each other and explain what we need to do to fix our mistakes.”

Though noted for her defense, Kraus is versatile enough to run the field as a midfielder as well, and she always is ready to go at either position.

“I always think that everybody at some point in practice ought to play both positions,” she said. “It helps you look a play ahead and see what the offensive player is seeing. And you can make adjustments and kind of get in the offensive people’s heads.”

Coach Mary Squire, who has helmed SNHU’s program since its inception in 2002, first saw Kraus play at Pinkerton when Kraus was a junior. Squire could tell right away Kraus was the type of player she would want on her team.

“She’s very tenacious,” Squire said. “She was very focused, and you could tell she had a good work ethic, and to me, that equates to a lot of coachability. When I took over the program, she was one of the first people I thought to bring in.”

According to Squire, Kraus makes an impression on her teammates. In a possession game, seeing the ball on the ground can be a nervous moment. Not so when Kraus is on the field.

“We just know if the ball is on the ground anywhere near Julie she’s going to come up with it,” Squire said. “There’s no doubt in anybody’s mind.”

Talk to Kraus about her approach to turnovers and ground balls, and she again returns to the mantra of team concept.

“The way we look at it on our team, ground balls isn’t a skill, it’s desire,” she said. “And when the ball is on the ground it’s 50/50, so it better be your ball.”

No one on the team has more desire than Kraus. Squire says she outworks everyone, in season or out of season, and plays smart, compensating for her weaknesses by staying a step ahead of her opponents.

“I don’t know that there’s anyone that can stop her from anything she wants to do,” Squire said.

What Kraus would like to do once she finishes her college playing career is coach at the college level. She coaches clinics for Derry (N.H.) Youth Lacrosse, where her uncle has coached, participates in SNHU’s summer camp, and says she will probably be running the Manchester-area Average Janes team for middle-schoolers and JV players this summer along with Murphy.

Kraus, who is studying business, probably will work for her family’s 911 consulting company, but lacrosse is too much a part of her to leave it behind. Since Kraus doesn’t see a competitive women’s professional lacrosse league, her options are somewhat limited.

“I really would love to coach,” she said. “Eventually college, that would be my dream, but I’ll probably start at a high school level.”

Squire believes Kraus would be perfect for the profession.

“She knows the game inside-out and she knows how to motivate kids,” Squire said. “She’s been the captain the last two years, and she’s been very effective in that.”

Before Kraus can think of coaching or the family business, or anything about her post-college career, there is still the matter of that championship.

“This has been my goal since I got here,” she said. “It would mean the world.”