ELON, N.C. – MJ Santa Barbara is nine games into her Elon career. The freshman has already established herself in the record books, cementing her place in maroon and gold history.

In women's lacrosse, the draw control is vital to every team's success. Every quarter starts with and every goal is followed by a draw control in the center circle. If you can win possession via the draw, it can set up your team for more opportunities on offense. 

"Walking into the locker room today, the energy was so high, and everyone was focused on the same goal," Santa Barbara said. "We fight so hard every single day, and we pull through."

There are few players better in the conference, let alone in the nation, than Santa Barbara has been in this area of the field. Coming into Saturday afternoon's matchup against the Monmouth Hawks, Santa Barabra was among the top 10 in the country in total draw controls and draw controls per game.

Santa Barbara has quickly risen to the top of Elon lacrosse's all-time leaderboard in career draw controls. Heading into the contest, she had already eclipsed the previous single-season mark for a freshman of 52.

With an opportunity to etch her name in history again, Santa Barbara broke the record and never looked back.
 
"It's years and years of practice and technical details," Santa Barbara said. "It's an important aspect of the game, and I'm grateful I can contribute."

With a career-high 15 draw controls against the Hawks, Santa Barbara broke Elon's single-game and single-season records. Her final stat line also broke the record for most in a single game in a conference matchup. 

Behind her dominance in the circle, the Phoenix secured its first conference win since March 30th, 2022. For the second time in her young career, Santa Barbara was awarded CAA Rookie of the Week honors.

Head coach Josh Hexter announced her achievements to the team following the 16-13 victory over Monmouth. She was met with a frenzy of praise from her teammates through cheers and water bottle sprays.

After everyone had left the field, Santa Barbara was embraced by assistant coach Ashley Lizzi, who has helped Santa Barbara and the Phoenix become one of the nation's best in the draw circle.

"I have to give so much credit to our draw coach, Ashley Lizzi," Santa Barbara said. "She spent so much time on our scout. Mikaela Buoshio, Kailee Follette, and Kaitlyn Michaud, I cannot do it without them. They make my job easy, and I can make their job easy."

The Phoenix will travel to face the nationally ranked Stony Brook Seawolves on March 22 at 6:30 p.m.
 

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'Rising Phoenix' is a new student-led initiative to cover Elon Athletics. Through innovative content creation and storytelling, Elon University students will have the opportunity to highlight the moments, people and events that make an impact, leveraging the athletic department's various web and social media platforms for distribution. Follow Rising Phoenix on Twitter (@EURisingPhoenix) and Instagram (@elonrisingphoenix). Interested in joining this initiative as a content creator (video, graphics, writing, storytelling, or more)? Contact Jacob Kisamore at jkisamore@elon.edu.

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