As a freshman, Lauren Christy is learning to make every minute at SU count
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For most of Lauren Christy’s soccer career, a complicated game had a simple solution: give her the ball.
She shot from distance. She created her own space. She found a teammate nobody else saw. At Brewster Academy (New Hampshire), where she totaled 73 goals and 217 points, Christy constantly made something happen.
Now, at Syracuse, she waits.
Sometimes for 20 minutes. Sometimes for 30. Against Virginia Tech Sunday, she sat for 86 minutes and 34 seconds. So when Syracuse finally calls her No. 13, she must make every moment count.
“I just want to be a game changer,” Christy said of her new role. “I want to do anything I can do for my team.”
Through Syracuse’s (3-5-2, 0-3-0 Atlantic Coast) first 10 games, Christy has played 254 minutes across eight appearances — with two starts. The freshman central attacking midfielder has eight shots, four on goal, but hasn’t recorded any goals or assists.
It’s quite the stark contrast from just a year ago. As a senior at Brewster, Christy scored 23 goals and tallied a single-season school record 26 assists. She led the Bobcats to a 16-3 record and the New England Prep School Athletic Council Class C championship game, winning 2024-25 Gatorade New Hampshire Girls Soccer Player of the Year.
“I’ve just been embracing it,” Christy said. “It’s special to come off the bench and make a difference.”
Her numbers, or lack thereof, illustrate the adjustment Christy has had to make since arriving at Syracuse. The player who once created chances from start to finish now must find ways to influence a game in whatever minutes she gets.
At Brewster, Christy rarely waited for her opportunity.
Matt Butcher, her varsity coach for all four years, watched her progress from a freshman who was quickly becoming one of the team’s top midfielders into its go-to player as a senior. She turned routine possessions into highlights.
“She’d get on the ball and just hit rockets from 35 yards,” Butcher said. “That brought the crowd to its feet.”
As Christy grew older, so did her responsibility. Butcher watched her become more assertive each season, developing into the player who dominated a practice when competition toughened.
“Every time we did small-sided games, if it was a game to five, she was going to score four of the goals,” Butcher said. “She was the player that would take over every single training session.”
In Christy’s sophomore year, Brewster faced New Hampton in the NEPSAC championship in mid-November, looking to defend its 2021 title. It was freezing. The field hardened so much that Christy remembers it being “like a rock.” At one point, play stopped as a leaf blower attempted to clear the frozen surface.
Brewster Academy standout Lauren Christy dribbles the ball in a game. Before coming to Syracuse, Christy scored 23 goals as a senior at Brewster. Courtesy of Robert Christy
With 20 minutes left in the scoreless game, Christy received a cross from captain Abigail Jarvi.
“As soon as the ball got on her foot inside the 18, you just knew she was going to score,” Butcher said.
One touch. Then a shot. The ball went in, and Brewster won 1-0.
For Christy, the goal carried a little more weight than the score. As a freshman, she was part of a championship team. As a sophomore, she helped decide one.
“Everything, I feel like, lined up perfectly,” Christy said.
By her senior season, opponents realized that letting Christy run free was a problem. Butcher said teams began game-planning specifically to take her away, sometimes triple-teaming her. It didn’t exactly solve the problem. Instead, Christy started seeing the field differently. If three defenders followed her, somebody else would be open.
“If there’s a shot, take it,” Robert Christy, Lauren’s father, said. “If there’s a better opportunity for a teammate, make that pass.”
Even before Christy became the player opponents had to account for, she had an endless desire to persist until she perfected something.
Once when she was 12, Christy juggled a soccer ball in the backyard, chasing a number she set for herself. Robert told her it was time to come in for dinner. But whatever was waiting inside — Robert’s best guess was chicken and potatoes, as dinner at the Christys often was — could wait a little longer.
“I’m not going in until I get it,” Christy told him.
So she stayed out back.
Another 30 minutes passed before she finally hit her number — 100 straight juggles. Only then could she eat.
That moment stuck with Robert, but it wasn’t an isolated burst of stubbornness. Christy’s always found extra ways to work. In 2015, Robert, who played soccer at Bridgewater State University, built a 40-yard grass field in the family’s backyard, complete with a full-size goal and 18-yard markings. When Christy was home and healthy, she was out there.
I just want to be a game changer. I want to do anything I can do for my team.Lauren Christy, Syracuse midfielder
Even now, the two still train together. Before SU’s scoreless draw against Harvard on Aug. 30, Christy called Robert the Saturday before to meet at Syracuse’s practice field. On the eve of the matchup, they spent an hour working on turning and shooting — one-timers, free kicks and penalty kicks.
“She’s very focused on the game and getting better,” Robert said. “She thinks if she’s prepared, the games are easy.”
That preparation has followed Christy to Syracuse. But now, instead of having an entire game to contribute, she has to do it in a fraction of one. Christy did exactly that in a 1-0 victory at Northwestern on Aug. 20. After coming off the bench, she sparked the Orange in the second half, taking all three of their shots after halftime.
The final one was the most pivotal.
With under a minute left, Christy’s attempt was blocked inside the box, ricocheting off Wildcats defender Olivia Elliott’s hand. After a lengthy video review, Syracuse was awarded a penalty kick. Abby Incorvaia stepped up and buried it to win the game.
The stat line had no trace of Christy. No goal. No assist. Just three shots and a hand in the sequence that gave Syracuse its only Power Four win of the season. But for a player learning to live in the gaps between opportunities, it was a reminder of what she can do with one.
The role may be new for Christy, but the intensity she brings to it isn’t. Luce Colcord knows that better than most.
The two played and roomed together at Brewster for four years, becoming “sisters” in Colcord’s eyes. After wins, they played music and laughed in their room. After losses, they gave each other some space before sitting down to pick apart what they could’ve done differently.
Colcord remembers how Christy’s competitiveness carried into practice. When the tempo dropped, Christy raised it. When everyone else’s energy dipped, hers rarely did.
“She’s never gonna go out there and half-ass it,” Colcord said. “She’s gonna give it her all, which then ups everyone else’s motivation.”
Christy has spent her entire soccer career making decisions with the ball. Now she has to make them before she even touches it, watching from the sideline, studying the game and figuring out where she can change it when her number is called.
Her preparation hasn’t changed since she left New Hampshire. Only her role has.
Now, Christy waits. Then, No. 13 gets her chance.
