It’s been an excellent week for Syracuse women’s lacrosse (9-0, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference). It’s enjoyed an undefeated run to this point in the season and captured the number-one ranking for the second time in program history. After picking up three straight ranked wins in two weeks, they now face the No. 6 Stony Brook Seawolves (5-1, 1-0 Colonial Athletic Association) at home in the final game of their four-game gauntlet against ranked opponents.
The success of the Orange has been great team play and effort on both ends, along with their top players leading the way. Graduate attacker Meaghan Tyrrell has been on fire to start the season. Expect Stony Brook to key in on her through the game, as she burned them for four goals the last time the two teams met.
Tyrrell’s attacking partner Megan Carney has been a scoring machine the past three games, putting up 11 goals in that stretch. Junior Emma Ward has helped Syracuse’s dynamic duo. Her 26 goals through nine games are good for 5th best in the nation.
Another day at the office for @megcarney02 as she scores 5️⃣ goals in the win over the Blue Devils. 💪🍊5️⃣ pic.twitter.com/1c0jUL9Owk
— Syracuse Women's Lacrosse (@CuseWLAX) March 18, 2023
Stony Brook also has a great player on their team Ellie Masera. Masera is the team’s do-it-all star; she leads the team in goals, points, ground balls, and draws controlled this year.
Her skill in draws controlled will be important for the Seawolves. The draw control circle has been a weakness for the Orange without their specialist Kate Mashewske. Mashewske was ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a lower-body injury against Notre Dame.
“Kate Mashewske has certainly proven to be one of, if not the best, draw control specialist in the country,” Coach Treanor said after their win against Loyola.
Syracuse has options in their draw control game; Katie Goodale recovered five draws in their last game against No.18 Duke as they’ve tried to find consistency in draws.
Masera is joined with senior attacker Kaylin Hart, who leads the team with nine assists. Hart won the 2022 America East Attacker of the Year award last year after totaling 64 goals and 14 assists. She’s a very dangerous attacker that will give Syracuse some fits on defense.
On the defensive side, the Seawolves are one of the better units in the nation, ranked 13th in scoring defense and allowing just 8.9 goals per game. They’ve been led by Ella Whitehouse and Charlotte Verhulst, who both are one and two in caused turnovers for Stony Brook. Their unit has terrorized offenses and made life easy for their goalie Hailey Duchnowski, a graduate transfer from Long Island University.
Syracuse also has a goalie who’s been lighting it up this year. Delaney Sweitzer has been a major strength for the Orange’s defense. She’s posted an outstanding 58% save percentage, which is good for 2nd in the nation, as well as 8th in the nation with 74 saves on the year.
You come to Syracuse to play in games like this. 💪🍊🥍 pic.twitter.com/LrFA40hgiE
— Syracuse Women's Lacrosse (@CuseWLAX) March 21, 2023
Last season, the Orange took the victory in an 11-12 thriller in Syracuse. Both teams are coming off wins; Stony Brook beat Delaware 19-6 Saturday in Long Island. The lights will be on Wednesday in this 8 p.m. matchup of two top 10 programs in the JMA Wireless Dome.