Laura Hurff hates doing nothing. She hates sleeping in, lying in bed and watching television. The idea of staying in all day and doing nothing bores her. Instead she hikes and goes for walks, anything to be active.

“I’ll walk people’s dogs if I have to,” Hurff said. “I just need to be doing something.”

Hurff’s athleticism made her a 2016 second-team All-American, and it has helped her to continue a similar path this year as No. 6 Syracuse’s (8-2, 1-2 Atlantic Coast) anchor in the midfield. The senior has two goals and two assists this season, but her biggest impact comes with her ability to cover the field.

“She can cover one-and-a-half times the ground that most people can cover,” SU head coach Ange Bradley said. “Her ability to cover the ground and create separation is huge.”

In the Orange’s 2-0 win against then-No. 21 Albany, Hurff dominated over the middle. The Great Danes’ passing suffered and it struggled to advance the ball because Hurff disrupted passing lanes and forced players to the sidelines, where SU could trap and double-team.

Hurff’s physique is why she’s able to beat down her opponents in one-on-one situations and cover the amount of ground she does. She resembles more of a bodybuilder than a field hockey player, said a fan after SU’s loss to No. 7 North Carolina.

“She has elite physiology,” Bradley said. “She’d be ready to move to the national team physically.”

But Hurff doesn’t live in a gym, and most of her workouts are the same as everyone else on her team. Occasionally she’ll do an extra sprint workout or an extra lift with Will Hicks, SU’s Olympic sport strength and conditioning coach, but for the most part she’s just doing her workouts with the team.

“I have to thank my mom and dad for the genetics,” Hurff said.

Hurff credits her physique to her diet, which is plant-based and excludes meats and dairy. A typical dinner involves black beans, chickpeas, corn, peppers, spinach, avocados, tomatoes and maybe a tortilla shell or veggie burger, if she wants to cheat a bit.

With a workout routine based on high weights and low reps, Hurff has gotten significantly stronger. It helps her as a runner and her energy levels improved, she said.

“It’s made a huge difference,” she said.

And the diet doesn’t end during school breaks or during the offseason. Hurff keeps the same diet at home as when she’s at school, except for Whole Foods ice cream.

“I have to admit I did try one of those ice creams at Whole Foods,” Hurff said, chuckling. “I had to. I’d never had it before and everyone was raving about it and it was mint chocolate chip.”

Her teammate, Florine Hogendoorn just shook her head listening.

That Whole Foods ice cream is reduced fat fondant mint chocolate chip ice cream and is 300 calories per pint. Another snack that Hurff eats is banana bread. But this banana bread is different. Instead of the 3/4 of a cup of sugar and the 1/3 of a cup of butter that it takes to normally make banana bread, Hurff’s is just “bananas and oats.”

“My mom at times … is like, ‘Can you just relax?’” Hurff said. “Because I never really do.”

Published on September 24, 2017 at 11:26 pm

Contact Matt: mdliberm@syr.edu