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After hovering around the No. 2 and No. 3 national ranking for most of the season, Syracuse earned a first-round bye as the No. 3 seed in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

An NCAA Tournament spot has never been in doubt for the Orange this season, as they have ranked in the top four all season and are a contender to lift the trophy at the end of the tournament.

Syracuse (14-3, 8-2 Atlantic Coast) will square off with the winner of Loyola and Hofstra in the tournament, and the game will take place May 16 in the Carrier Dome. This is Syracuse’s eight straight appearance as the Orange chase their first NCAA championship in program history.

Syracuse and Loyola met in the very first game of the season, when the Greyhounds were ranked fourth in the nation. SU cruised to an 18-6 win in that game as Loyola tumbled down the rankings after that matchup. Still, Loyola now boasts the fourth best scoring defense in the nation, allowing just 7.69 goals per game, almost two goals better than the Orange.

The other potential opponent, Hofstra, is not in Inside Lacrosse’s top 20. Hofstra finished the season 6-6 and eventually lost to James Madison in its conference tournament.

Syracuse lost All-American attack Emily Hawryschuk to a torn ACL after just one game this season. In her absence, Meaghan Tyrrell and Megan Carney led SU’s attack, which averages 14.71 goals per game. That was until Carney also tore her ACL against Boston College in the second to last game of the regular season, leaving Syracuse with two players of Tewaaraton Award caliber on the sidelines.

In their absence, Emma Ward and Emma Tyrrell stepped up to fill that void. The pair, alongside veterans such as Sam Swart and Meaghan Tyrrell, helped SU go all the way to its first ACC Tournament final since 2017. In that final, Syracuse squared off with a likely Final Four or championship opponent in North Carolina.

Syracuse and UNC met twice this season, with the Tar Heels winning both matchups. The first was a blowout 17-6 win for UNC during the regular season. It was the first loss of the season for the Orange, and they were held almost 30 minutes without a goal.

The two teams met again in the ACC Tournament final, where Syracuse fell 9-4 to North Carolina despite a strong showing from the Orange defense. Syracuse struggled to cut the Tar Heels lead, but the Orange held UNC to a season-low nine goals.

“We had a couple players that had some great looks, and they just were off today on the offensive end,” Gait said after the game. “Hopefully, they’ll learn from this, and they’ll be better prepared for the next time when we get in the playoffs and play with a little bit more confidence.”

Gait likened his team’s run in the ACC Tournament to what the Orange will face in the NCAA Tournament. Six of the top seven teams in this season’s ACC Tournament will be from the conference. UNC joined Syracuse with a first-round bye, while Notre Dame, Boston College, Virginia and Duke all headed to the top of their respective regions.

“We battled hard, we got two wins against other ACC teams and were rewarded with an opportunity to play UNC,” Gait said. “We just got to stay focused and get back to work and make another run of it in the playoffs and try and get to that final game.”

In Syracuse’s way are North Carolina and Northwestern, the only two teams ranked higher than SU. The Orange will likely have to beat one or both if they are to have a shot at the national title.

Northwestern boasts the nation’s best scoring offense, averaging 29.38 points per game. Led by junior attack Izzy Scane, who leads the nation with 81 goals and a goal per game average of 6.23, the Wildcats are the only team in the country to average 20 goals per game. Northwestern almost lost to Maryland in the Big Ten Final, but Scane scored five straight goals and finished with nine to help her team win the Big Ten Championship.

En route to a potential national championship, Syracuse will likely have to top Florida and either Northwestern or North Carolina — or both — to win the Orange’s first national championship.

Published on May 9, 2021 at 9:30 pm

Contact Gaurav: gshetty@syr.edu