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The moment that Casey Cummings stepped onto Syracuse’s campus for a lacrosse camp, she knew she wanted to play for the Orange, her favorite childhood team.

“I walked on campus and I just felt like I belonged there,” Casey, who’s now a four-star recruit at Nyack Senior High School (New York), said. “It’s just a great environment to be in.”

Her ties with the university go well beyond that visit. Casey has attended SU lacrosse camp. While there, she received a signed stick from legendary former Syracuse lacrosse player and current men’s lacrosse head coach Gary Gait. On the drive home, Casey’s mother, Tara Cummings, predicted she’d play for the Orange one day.

Fast forward a few years, and Casey, who started playing with Nyack’s varsity team in seventh grade, has committed to play for Syracuse. The 2026 recruit has tallied 206 goals, 175 assists and 306 draw controls across her 5-year varsity career, helping boost Nyack to the No. 13-ranked team in the country, per USA Lacrosse Magazine.

Casey began playing lacrosse with her father, Joe Cummings, at the age of 3 in the backyard. The two would throw the ball back and forth to help build her confidence handling the ball, Joe said.

In first grade, Casey joined her first lacrosse team, Nike Youth Lacrosse. She began playing at a third and fourth-grade level because of her skill level.

Tara remembers the program’s directors telling Joe: “If you can teach her how to catch and throw like that, we want her.”

Despite being the youngest on the field, Casey made up for it with her skills. Elizabeth Gould, who coached Casey at Nike Youth Lacrosse and as an assistant coach with Nyack, said she was “a force on the field” as a kid. That propelled her through middle school and high school. In the spring of seventh grade, Cummings tried out for Nyack High School’s varsity team and earned a spot.

“My first impression was that she absolutely loves the game of lacrosse,” Nyack head coach Kathryn Perrella said. “She’s very competitive, and I knew it was something she was really going to commit herself to.”

Casey played a solid role for Nyack. She had a solid 7th-grade campaign, scoring 10 goals and 14 assists.

She also excelled in high school. Her first goal as a high schooler was one of the most memorable parts of her career. Tara remembers her picking off an opponent’s pass and running the whole length of the field. She then fought through a double team and sniped the top right corner for the goal. Tara remembers becoming emotional afterward.

“I said, ‘her dreams are going to come true,’” Tara recalled.

Casey has improved since her seventh-grade season, not only in goal scoring and assists, but also on the draw. As a seventh grader, she only won two draws all season. In 11th grade, she totaled 141 wins, nearly doubling her total in high school.

Perrella said while Casey was first learning how to take the draw in eighth grade, she used different sticks and tried different maneuvers to find new ways to counter her opponents.

“She’s put in so many reps and practiced and so many hours of work into figuring out how to take the draw,” Gould said.

Casey’s game IQ has also improved over the years, Gould said. That includes her vision and her ability to pass the ball to her teammates in scoring positions.

As a result, she was voted one of the team captains this summer for her final year at Nyack. In her five years with the program, she’s contributed to creating a demanding culture since she stepped on the field.

“We’re literally like sisters.” Casey said. “Everyone on the team wants to be there and wants us to be good. Everyone just puts in the work.”

She’s also made an impact off the field. Casey and her teammates have done community service throughout their area, volunteering to coach youth girls lacrosse and holding a basketball tournament for Morgan’s Message, an organization that tries to break the stigma around mental health. Cummings herself is an ambassador for the group.

“I feel like I’m giving back to something that was always supporting me,” Cummings said.

Gould said Cummings also helps out with One Love Foundation, another organization that addresses and attempts to break the stigma around mental health, and is trying to set up a 15 For Life game this year at Nyack.

“Her leadership on the field, it bleeds over into all other areas of life,” Gould said.

On the field, though, Casey has another goal: win the state championship. She wants to be the one to lead Nyack to its first state title since 2010.

The team was close last year, winning the sectional title but falling in regionals to Bayport-Blue Point. Casey immediately looked toward the positives.

“(After losing) I’ll be like, ‘Okay these are the mistakes we made.’ And then it’s like, ‘Okay that was yesterday. (We’ve) got to move on. It’s a new day,’” Casey said.

But Casey has the tools to reverse that trend in 2025. That’s how she ended up at Syracuse. And she’ll try to bring them to the Orange in 2026.

Published on October 6, 2025 at 10:36 pm
Contact Jamie: jquinn13@syr.edu