Player grades through first six games
Rahill Jaiswal | @RahillJaiswal
As Syracuse Women’s Lacrosse enters A-C-C play, it’s time to hand out some player grades. The Orange sit at number 4 in the country with a 2-2 record.
Olivia Adamson: A
Adamson has been nothing short of sensational this year. The junior leads the team with 20 total points and has also scored 13 goals which is tied for the team lead. The attacker was recently named one of Inside Lacrosse players of the week for her performance against then-number two Notre Dame. Over her Syracuse career, Adamson has always been a good player. However, nobody would have thought she would be the driving force of the offense this season.
Natalie Smith: A
Similar to Adamson, Smith has come out of nowhere this year. The grad student is tied with Adasmon for a team-high 13 goals. Smith turned in her best career performance last weekend against Notre Dame. The midfielder tailed six total points. Smith has been one of the spark plugs for this offense. Even when she is not on the field, the grad student is constantly hyping her teammates up and giving them energy. Again similar to Adamson, Smith has always flown under the radar at Syracuse. But with her team needing someone to step in after losing top players she has seemed to embrace that challenge.
Delaney Sweitzer: A
At this point, you come to expect nothing but great play from Sweitzer. The grad student came into the season ranked one of the best goalies in the nation. Six games into the season and she is proving everyone right. She has made clutch save after clutch save for the Orange. In the overtime loss against Maryland Sweitzer tallied 10 saves. In last weekend’s game against Notre Dame, she came up with some huge saves in the fourth quarter.
Emma Ward: B
Through the first six games, Ward has been solid. The grad student has tailed 16 total points so far this year. While that total might be good, Ward was top three in the nation in points and was considered one of the main distributors on offense. Coming into the season she was supposed to be one of the main players who stepped. While she has done that at times people are still waiting to see the ward they did last year.
Emma Tyrrell: B
Similar to Ward, Tyrrell has been solid over the first six games. The grad student has managed to score six goals so far this year. However, Tyrrell was expected to be one of the main drivers of this offense. She proved she was capable of being that leader at times last year. However, so far we have not seen that from Tyrrell. The captain has struggled to get involved on offense at times.
After a gauntlet of a schedule to start Syracuse starts A-C-C play. SU hosts Duke this weekend. The Blue Devils enter the contest 3-3 and 0-1 in the conference. Opening draw from the JMA wireless Dome is set for noon.
