Syracuse women’s lacrosse: Several players chasing school record book as NCAA Tournament begins

The Syracuse Orange women’s lacrosse team opens up their 2021 NCAA tournament this Sunday, May 16 at 1 PM as they chase down their ultimate goal of capturing the school’s first ever national championship.

While they’re in pursuit of the big team goal, there are a handful of individual players who are on pace to challenge school records and join some of the most prolific seasons and careers ever established at SU.

Let’s take a look now at who these players are and what stats they're pursuing, even if they’re not personally focused on it.

Asa Goldstock

The graduate student is one of the best goalies in school history. She is already the owner of one school record, and has a shot at claiming another before her time at SU is done.

Ground Balls

During the first Louisville game this season back on April 16, Asa set the school record for most career ground balls, passing fellow goalie Liz Hogan’s (‘08-’11) 181. She currently has 193 career GBs, and is looking to extend her record and become the first player in school history to reach the 200 mark.

Saves

Asa is currently second in SU history on the saves list, behind Liz Hogan’s mark of 660 career saves. She definitely has a shot to grab that record for herself, as well, but it would help is SU makes the title game.

Asa currently has 633 saves in her career, 27 shy of Hogan’s record. If the Orange make the finals, then 7 saves per game would do it for her. That’s a very reachable goal, but SU’s got to make it to the championship game, first.

Caused Turnovers

Single-Season

A trio of starting defenders are re-writing the record books on caused turnovers at Syracuse. Sarah Cooper, Ella Simkins and Kerry Defliese are all climbing the lists for both single-season and career CTs.

This season, Cooper and Simkins each have 30 CTs so far, while Defliese has 25. That puts all of them just outside the top-5 individual seasons in school history. The record is 34 in one season, set by Halley Quillinan in 2010. Cooper and Simkins are only five away from breaking the record, a real possibility for both of them. At 25, Defliese isn’t out of the conversation either, especially if she caused turnovers the way she did in the ACC Championship game. It’s a distinct possibility that three of the top-5 individual seasons in school history could all be accomplished in the same year, which would be incredible.

Career

From the career perspective, the trio is doing just as well. Simkins has 82 career CTs, Defliese has 77, and Cooper has 75. That already puts all three of them in the top-5 for a SU career, with Simkins in third, Defliese in fourth, and Cooper tied for fifth.

They probably won’t rise higher than that, at least not this season. Quillinan is second for a career with 96. Cooper will eventually have a shot at the career record of 101 (Bridget Looney), but that’ll be down the road. The three could jockey for position amongst themselves, though, in this tournament, since the three are only separated by seven career CTs.

It’s pretty cool, though, to have three teammates all in the top-5 in school history in a particular category. Mostly, it just speaks to how strong the SU defense has been since this group arrived on campus.

Ground Balls

While Asa Goldstock owns the career record for GBs at SU, Sarah Cooper has a shot to pass her teammate in the single-season category and join the top-5 best GB seasons in school history.

Cooper has grabbed 42 GBs this season, putting her 12 shy of Goldstock’s best season of 54 back in 2017. If Cooper can pass Goldstock, that would put her in the top-5 for a single-season mark.

Offense

It’s not all on the defensive end where players are looking to join the all-time ranks.

Meaghan Tyrrell’s season has got her knocking on the door of top-10 lists in all three of the offensive categories.

Tyrrell has 52 goals, 34 assists and 86 points this season.

The 52 goals in nine shy of the top-10 individual seasons in school history. The 34 assists already ties Tyrrell for ninth most in a SU season. And the 86 points in nine shy of the top-10 points list.

All three top-10 lists are attainable for Tyrrell, which would be amazing when you consider how many great players have suited up for SU over the years. For Tyrrell to have a shot at putting her name up amongst the likes of Kayla Treanor, Alyssa Murray, Michelle Tumolo, Halle Majorana, etc. is fantastic.

If Tyrrell has herself a productive postseason, she could reach about eighth or ninth on the points and goals lists, while her assists total could get to the top-5 individual seasons ever. She’s already had a great season, but this is a chance to cement it in the record books.

Draw Controls

Graduate student Morgan Widner has 240 draw controls in her career, already good for third most in school history.

She’s 25 draws behind Kayla Treanor in second place, so it’s highly unlikely she’ll move up, especially since she’s now a backup to Katelyn Mashewske. Regardless, Widner’s had a great career as one of the most successful draw controllers in school history.

It’s going to be fun to track these stats throughout the tournament to see how high some of the ladies can climb in the SU record books, even though the individual numbers pale in comparison to the team objective. But, to accomplish that objective, these players and more are going to have to do big things on the field, which will hopefully include a lot of what we’re talked about here.

Be sure to watch the women pursue all of this starting this weekend on Sunday, May 16 at 1 PM on ESPN 3. They’ll be taking on the winner of Loyola vs. Hofstra.

Let’s Go Orange!!!