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Alas, it simply wasn't meant to be. The Maryland Terrapins were the best team in women's lacrosse all season long and that wasn't about to change, no matter what the Syracuse Orange threw at them.
SU lost for the third time this season to the Terps, and the third time overall, in a 15-12 defeat in the National Championship game on Sunday. A quick 5-0 start by Maryland was too much to overcome despite late-game attempts and the Orange will have to settle for being No. 2 in the nation for the second time in three years.
It was a record-breaking season for No. 2-seed Syracuse (22-3, 6-1 Atlantic Coast), the best in program history. The Orange beat 10 teams in the Top 10. Coming into Sunday night’s NCAA championship, the only blemishes on a virtually perfect season were two losses to top-seeded Maryland (23-1, 6-1) — which also defeated the Orange in last year’s final four.
In this year’s national title game, the only team that could beat Syracuse did, in a 15-12, back-and-forth battle between the country’s top two teams.
"It’s just frustrating anytime you lose," SU head coach Gary Gait said. "You pour your heart into it as a player, coach, everything. You hope for a different outcome. It just wasn’t our day."
Alyssa Murray, Kayla Treanor and Natalie Glanell were all named to the All-Tournament team. Murray also ended her SU career second all-time in scoring, third all-time in goals (226) and third all-time in assists (136). Treanor's 117-point season leaves her at second on the single-season record list.
Congrats to SU WLAX for another amazing season and confirmation that they are one of the nation's elite programs. Hopefully the next trip to the finals will be the one that brings home the program's first (of many) championship.
