Film study: What makes Cross Ferrara a great shooter
By Nick Zoroya
Aug 23, 2023
The little known division three product from Salisbury has become a must start in the PLL. A fourth round draft pick doesn’t typically burst onto the scene in their rookie year, but when you scored 473 points in college, you’re no average rookie.
Cross Ferrara is fast becoming a household name and for good reason, the kid can flat out shoot the rock. What’s impressive when you watch his film is the nature of his goals, there are so many nuances to what he does that are easy to miss in real time. With eleven goals in seven appearances teams are quickly realizing he’s no longer the third option at attack.
What makes him so great?
An elite shooter isn’t a one trick pony. While Ferrara has one very nifty trick, it's his ability to score different ways that make him so great. With each clip we’ll examine a different element of his game.
Bread and Butter
I’m going to forever reference this shot as Cross Ferrara’s bread and butter, his go to shot.
What makes the shot so special is the details. He always keeps a favorable angle, just far enough up the field to keep the goalie from holding the nearside pipe. Typically shooters shoot to the far side of the cage but Ferrara loves the nearside. He also floats to space which creates longer slides for the defenders, when they do slide, he uses them to screen the goalie. The final piece of the puzzle is that he loves to change the angle of delivery, utilizing bounce shots to keep the goalie guessing.
Spacing and IQ
Here we see Ferrara in an unsettled situation. He sees his man slide upfield to Jesse Bernhardt and he immediately fades creating extra space. With hands free he goes to his bread and butter shot.
We see him modify his bread and butter shot this time, changing the release from a side arm bouncer to a side arm low to high riser. This goal was set up by the previous clip. The goalie is now expecting Ferrara to bounce the ball and every mechanic of the shot appears to the goalie as a bounce shot until he snaps his wrist at the last second and pulls the ball upward.
Confidence and Versatility
In the movie The Replacements, Gene Hackman tells Keanu Reeves that “Winners always want the ball when the game's on the line." Cross Ferrara is a winner and he plays like one.
With the game on the line, the rookie, in his professional debut, saw an opportunity to take control and it paid off big time.
It’s unclear where exactly his confidence comes from but it sure helps that he’s scored 362 goals during college. The confidence he gained from game one has carried on throughout the season and we’ve seen him take on guys like 6x all-star Matt Dunn.
Against the whipsnakes Ferrara showed he’s more than a stretch shooter in transition and posts up one of the league's best defenders, using the defenders aggressive nature to set up an inside roll. He also “gives the stick eyes” by placing the stick head out in front of the net, increasing the shooting angle.
Cross Ferrara is the real deal and if you’re a lacrosse player at any level you should take notes, the rookie is here to stay.
Share This With Friends
