US Lacrosse Magazine released the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Women’s Preseason Top 20 on Dec. 17. Team-by-team previews will be unveiled on uslaxmagazine.com through the end of the month and will also appear as part of the magazine’s NCAA preview edition in February.

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No. 2 Syracuse

2019 Record: 16-5, (5-2, Atlantic Coast Conference)
Coach: Gary Gait (13th year)
Assistants: Caitlin Defliese, Sydney Pirecca

All-Time Record: 280-118
NCAA Appearances: 16
Final Fours: 7
Championships: 0

2020 Schedule

* = neutral site

Save the Date
Feb. 22

Syracuse returns to the place where its 2019 season ended. The Orange lost to Northwestern  in a four-hour, 22-minute marathon game delayed multiple times due to stormy weather. This season, SU comes in as the higher-ranked team and will look to knock off the Wildcats on the same field that negated another final four appearance for coach Gary Gait.

Cuse Back With “Incredible Amount of Experience”

For as much as Syracuse has been a perennial power in women’s lacrosse, an NCAA title has always eluded it. Seven final fours and three NCAA title games never culminated in a championship.

Coming off their worst season in program history in 2018, when they finished 9-10, the Orange did not expect much last year. But then they almost knocked off then-No. 1 Boston College twice and rose to the No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament.

So when Syracuse lost at Northwestern in the NCAA quarterfinals, tears flowed and some doubt set in. But Gait was quick to switch his team’s mindset.

“We were young, a super-young team,” Gait said in the post-game press conference. He motioned to Emily Hawryschuk and Megan Carney, then a junior and sophomore, respectively. “We’ll come back with a team that has an incredible amount of experience of winning.”

Syracuse returns nearly its entire core. The Orange lost just two starters — attacker Nicole Levy and defender Alexa Radziewicz — and bring back 83 percent of their scoring production.

At the helm is Hawryschuk, who posted career highs across the board. Her 75 goals were 22 more than the season prior. When SU struggled on the draw — a problem that plagued the Orange throughout 2019 — Gait handed her the responsibilities, and she became the top option with a team-high 67 draw controls.

Despite face-guards and cold spells, Gait usually relied on Hawryschuk down the stretch of close games. Now there’s no question: She’s Syracuse’s most important player in 2020.

When Hawryschuk is shut out, sophomores Carney and Meaghan Tyrrell have shown they can pick up the slack. Tyrrell was SU’s second-leading scorer as a freshman, while Carney put up big games when Hawryschuk struggled. Against Virginia Tech, Carney finished with nine points — five assists, four goals — in a 14-13 win.

The Orange’s backline, featuring two of the best defenders in the ACC in Kerry Defliese and Sarah Cooper, still remains intact with enough replacements for Radziewicz. The biggest questions come in the midfield, where Syracuse expects a resurgent season from Sam Swart and hopes Natalie Wallon can stay healthy.

“We’re not going to be the underdog,” Gait said. “Teams are going to be ready for us. We’re going to develop the ability to finish games and win the big ones.”

With the Carrier Dome undergoing renovations starting in March, Syracuse will have three neutral-site games and finish its schedule with nine of its last 10 games on the road.

Projected Starters

A — Emily Hawryschuk — Sr. — 75 G, 67 DC
A — Meaghan Tyrrell — So. — 37 G, 20 A
A — Megan Carney — So. — 56 PTS, 50.8 SH%
M — Sam Swart — Jr. — 36 G, 17 FPS
M — Mary Rahal — R-Sr. — 26 GB, 22 G
M — Natalie Wallon — Grad. — 18 CT, 22 PTS
M — Vanessa Costantino — Sr. —  7 G, 10 TO
D — Sarah Cooper — So. — 42 DC, 33 CT
D — Kerry Defliese — Sr. — 33 GB, 28 CT
D — Ella Simkins — Sr. — 26 CT, 29 GB
D — Allyson Trice — Jr. — 15 GB, 8 CT
G — Asa Goldstock — Sr. — 10.25 GAA, 147 SV

Tewaaraton Watch
Emily Hawryschuk, A, Sr.

The jump Hawryschuk took last season from Syracuse’s leading scorer to its best player came in increments. During a torrid monthlong stretch, she scored at least four goals in eight straight games. In each of the Orange’s NCAA tournament games — both on rainy and muddy days — Hawryschuk mustered five goals. No longer yielding touches to Nicole Levy, Hawryschuk has all the potential to be the best player left standing in May.

X Factor
Sarah Cooper, D, So.

The addition of Cooper prompted Gait to switch his defensive formation for the first time in years, he said. She became a backer for the Orange, and as a freshman, one of their most important players. As the No. 1 defender in her recruiting class, Cooper did not need any time to adjust to college lacrosse. She dominated in the trenches and on the draw, culminating in an ACC Freshman of the Year honor.

National Rankings

83%

Syracuse returns over 83% of its scoring production from last season, one of the highest numbers in the nation. Its top three goal-scorers — Emily Hawryschuk, Meaghan Tyrrell and Megan Carney — all return for 2020. The Orange’s only big loss is attack Nicole Levy, who dished out a team-high 27 assists last season. But other than Levy, only midfielder Julie Cross (17 points in 2019) has left SU due to graduation. The influx of returning players is a big reason why Syracuse is ranked No. 2 in US Lacrosse’s preseason poll.

Enemy Lines

“They’re always so talented. But they swing. They’re either phenomenally awesome like, ‘How did they ever lose a game?’ or they don’t play to their potential. Hopefully we catch them on a sleepy day. If they pull it together they could be one of the best teams in the country, but they haven’t done that consistently. But they’re a dangerous team.”

“I think they’re going to be a Final Four team. Gary, with that kind of talent, is really dangerous.”