#5 Syracuse has the chance to rewrite history in 2nd straight ranked matchup against a Top-5 opponent
By Adam Avin | @_adamavin
CitrusTV Women’s Lacrosse Beat Reporter
If you’ve paid attention to Syracuse Women’s Lacrosse recently, or read my last two articles, you’ll remember that the team had a lot of important players injured last year. Megan Carney, Emma Tyrrell, and Emma Ward all made their returns to the field and had a combined nine goals to help No. 4 Syracuse (1-0) defeat No. 5 Northwestern (0-1), 16-15, in the first top-5 matchup of the year. Guess it does help having your team at full strength, and from the looks of it no one missed a beat.
However, Northwestern didn’t make it easy. After the Orange went on a 6-1 run to end the second quarter, the Wildcats came back storming out of the break, scoring three goals in the first three-minutes of the half. The Wildcats were led by Freshman Madison Taylor and Grad. Student Izzy Scane with five goals a piece.
Despite the solid play from the two Wildcats, Syracuse goalie Delaney Sweitzer had herself a game. After being benched early last year, Sweitzer proved why she deserved to start. The senior had a career-high 11 saves, and especially showed out when defending on free-position shots, saving eight out of the 12 tries Northwestern threw her way.
On the offensive attack for Syracuse, it was Megan and Meaghan who ran the show. Megan Carney led the team in goals with four, which included scoring the first two-goals of the season for the Orange. Meaghan Tyrrell, who is primarily known as one of the best goal scorers in the nation, led the team in assists with six. Although she did get two goals herself, the ability to spread the ball around against a difficult Northwestern defense helped Syracuse propel to victory. In fact, seven players scored goals for the Cuse, and 11 of the 16 goals were assisted on. What was expected to be a lower scoring game (SU only scored 4 when they played NU in the elite eight) turned out to be an elite offensive matchup. And in this game of runs it was Syracuse who pulled through, swapping places with Northwestern in the rankings in the four and five spot, with SU jumping ahead.
Syracuse jumps back into action on Friday February 17th at 3 p.m. when Kayla Treanor’s squad plays No. 2 Maryland (1-0), continuing the stretch of tough opponents to start the year. The Cuse are also the first ranked opponent Maryland faces this year, and the first (current) top-5 opponent they’ll face until No.5 Northwestern in April. No other school in the country faces two top-five opponents in its first two games like SU. Coach Treanor is setting the tone for Syracuse, and proving to other teams they’re capable of being a top contender for a national championship.
Until 3 years ago, Syracuse had lost 20 – yes, TWENTY – consecutive games to Maryland. The team’s first win came on February 29th, 2020, which ended up being the penultimate game before the rest of the season was canceled due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. A taste of something the Cuse hadn’t done in over 20 years, was wiped away. Now, the Orange have their best and healthiest roster in a long time.
On Friday, the Orange have the chance to do something they’ve never done before: beat Maryland at home for the first time, and grab only the second win in the history of this almost 30 year rivalry.
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