Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Two Stars Collide as No.4 Syracuse Looks for Revenge Against No.3 Boston College

 The Syracuse defense swarms Boston College's Charlotte North in the national championship game.
Cuse.com
The Syracuse defense swarms Boston College's Charlotte North in the national championship game. The Tewaarton award winner netted six goals en route to the program's first national championship.

It’s finally that time. Syracuse women’s lacrosse fans, and probably women’s lacrosse fans in general, have circled April 22nd on their calendars. For the first time since losing in the national championship game, SU will square off against BC in the regular-season finale.

The Syracuse bench in front of the Syracuse fans in last season's national title game.
Cuse.com
The Orange faithful traveled down to Maryland for the 2021 national championship game to cheer on the Syracuse women's lacrosse team. The Cuse fell to BC 16-10.

The revenge game is enough to tune into this matchup, but there is also an added level of competitive anticipation as two of the nation's best scorers will be facing off. This week, the nominees for the Tewaarton Award were announced and both Orange attacker Meaghan Tyrrell and Eagles attacker Charlotte North find themselves back within the top-25 as nominees. The sharpshooter from Texas, North, is the reigning award winner and is one of the favorites to win it all again. But don’t count out the always consistent Tyrrell. Let’s take a look at this marquee matchup since it will be the battle most will be keeping their eyes on.

Graduate student North is the talk of the town. The attacker leads the ACC in total goals with 65 and a conference-high of 4.33 goals per game. What stands out most is her ability to completely take over games. This season, North has netted more than five goals in seven contests and put up a hat trick in all but four games. The dominance is evident. This goal-scoring ability is capped off by her efficiency at free position opportunities. This is usually what you’ll see on the highlight reels since North is known for her propensity to snip a ball past the opposing goalie. North converts on over 60% of free position opportunities with almost 40 attempts and leads the nation in this type of goal with almost two finished a game.

The Syracuse defense swarms Boston College's Charlotte North in the national championship game.
Cuse.com
The Syracuse defense swarms Boston College's Charlotte North in the national championship game. The Tewaarton award winner netted six goals en route to the program's first national championship.

The scoring prowess of North is undeniable and could cause problems for the Syracuse defense on Friday. The Eagles are coming off an upset loss to then number seven Duke 16-15 last weekend, where the star attacker only scored two goals.

Now to the other sideline, the eldest Tyrrell sister is not a player to be overlooked in this showdown. The senior is the heartbeat of this fourth-ranked Cuse squad. In the three losses this season, Tyrrell has averaged just two goals. One in both losses to Northwestern and Florida, then four against North Carolina with three coming in the first quarter. The Orange rely on the Mt. Sinai product and she delivers most of the time. Tyrrell is just six goals behind North for most in the ACC, but actually brings more to her game. When Meaghan Tyrrell is on your team, she not only brings efficiency in the goal-scoring category, but she also distributes the ball at a high clip, which makes her the best duo-threat in the conference and one of the best in the nation. The attacker leads the ACC with 88 points this season, which is over 10 more than the second-best in UNC’s Jamie Ortega.

Syracuse's Meaghan Tyrrell (18) gets around a BC defender during SU's 16-7 win over BC.
Cuse.com
Syracuse's Meaghan Tyrrell (18) gets around a BC defender during SU's 16-7 win over BC. The then-junior finished with four points in that contest.

Tyrrell had a few pretty quiet performances last season when SU played BC four times. The then-junior averaged less than two goals a contest. The Orange drew those matchups 2-2. If this year’s squad wants to enact revenge, it will need some major productive from its engine Tyrrell.

Two stars come together on women’s lacrosse’s biggest regular-season finale. This is most likely will not be the first and only time these two teams will meet this season, but this could be a fun preview of a battle to the finish that could take place again in the post-season. Who comes out on top could come down to which key player asserts her dominance first.