Syracuse Women's Lacrosse: Nicole Levy Tells Daily Orange About "Flipping the Switch"

As Syracuse attacker Nicole Levy and her father, Steve, tell it, her high school teammates had just been defeated and were in need of motivation to propel them to the playoffs. Steve, who was also the head coach, stopped at The Home Depot on his way to practice and purchased plastic light switches for each of the girls as a motivational tool. Nicole, as her father predicted, bought in, even if others didn't.

In his Daily Orange piece, Sam Fortier details how flipping that switch has become an inspirational metaphor for Levy to focus solely on lacrosse as soon as she steps onto the field. She takes it so seriously that she won't let anyone else touch it but her, no matter how many of her Syracuse teammates have asked to flip it on for her.

"A lot of people say, 'Can I flip it for you?' I say, 'No, you cannot touch it.' No one else can flip it." -- Nicole Levy to the Daily Orange

Even flipping it off has a meaning. If turning it on means full-on lacrosse mode, the opposite symbolizes living life to its fullest potential without thinking about the sport. There's only so much time in the day, so it's only fair to use free time for just that -- to be free.

In this season, her first as a member of the Orange, Levy has quietly become one of the most important players on the team. After a slow start, she's posted 42 goals over the course of 21 games, including a 12-game multi-goal streak leading up to this past weekend's ACC Championship Game. That total's good for the second-most goals scored for Syracuse this season. Her innate ability to fake out opposing goalies and rip sidearm shots reminiscent of the men's game have made her a force to be reckoned with heading into the NCAA Tournament.

Time will tell what the future holds for Levy and Syracuse in the postseason. The team travels to Canisius to wrap up its regular season today.