After a killer start to the season with three straight wins for No. 10 Syracuse women’s lacrosse, things have gone downhill. The Orange have flipped their record since then, capped off by a 9-8 heartbreaking loss to now No. 7 Clemson on Saturday. That marked three straight defeats and even though the two games before that were against No. 2 North Carolina and No. 3 Northwestern, there’s no denying that the wheels have started to come off.
One of the toughest things about Syracuse’s season is that every game is hard. For that reason, it is a must that the wheels start churning soon because the gauntlet only continues when SU faces off against No. 6 Stanford this Friday. The Cardinal are undefeated and have some impressive feats like a dominant win over No. 14 Virginia. However, besides that game Stanford hasn’t been battle-tested much. Other than that win over UVA the team hasn’t faced a single ranked squad. Also, last time out Stanford narrowly escaped against Villanova 14-13 last Saturday. On top of that, the Cardinal have to travel over 2,500 miles to the Salt City.
But don’t get it twisted this is a very good team and a big time challenge. So to get back in the win column a couple things are going to to need to change. Firstly, SU attacker Emma Ward has to feast.
The senior had three points last time out against Clemson, which is by no means a bad mark, but if you go back to the win over then No. 7 Maryland earlier in the season when Ward had seven points, the team dominated. It was a similar case against 3rd ranked Northwestern. Even though the Orange lost, the attacker notched six points later on in the contest after the team feel behind 5-0 early on. By the 4th quarter it was a tie game and despite SU running out of steam, the team proved it can compete with the best when Ward is at her best.
“It’s my job to put people in good position so that they can be successful,” Emma Ward said.
Scoring, assisting, she does it all. Even with her great play this year the scoring troubles have been killing the Orange as a whole lately. The ‘Cuse has not scored over ten goals in the last three games, something that hasn’t happened in over 12 years. A big reason why the team has struggled to score is the lack of draw-control wins.
SU lost the draw-control battle against Clemson 17-4, which marked it’s lowest draw-control tally in a game in a decade. The game before that was barely any better when the Orange lost it 17-6 against Northwestern.
“We just have to be really efficient if we’re getting less possessions than the other team,” SU head coach Kayla Trainer said.
Stanford may not be as good as Clemson and Northwestern in the draw circle, but it is still 25th in the nation with over 15 wins per game. However, things are only getting tougher since attacker Olivia Adamson, one of SU’s main draw control players, is out for the season.
Despite every turn in the season so far the team remains hopeful.
“If everyone just does there part it’s all gonna come together, that’s just something we’re still working towards,” Emma Ward said. “It’s exciting because our team can be so much better than what we’re producing now.”
There’s no mistaking it, this is a huge battle in the dome to get the team back on track. The showdown starts at 5 p.m. on Friday. Be sure to follow @WAERSports on Twitter for updates during the contest.