Syracuse women’s lacrosse: Six named Inside Lacrosse All-Americans

Pretty good weekend for the Syracuse Orange women’s lacrosse team, yeah?

On Saturday, they beat the Florida Gators in the NCAA quarterfinals to advance to their first Final Four since 2016, where they’re now set to take on the Northwestern Wildcats this Friday, May 28 at 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN U.

But the good-news-weekend actually started last Friday for SU, while their quarterfinal fate still hung in the balance, when Inside Lacrosse revealed their Division I All-Americans for the 2021 season as voted on by the media that cover the women’s game.

The Orange were well-represented with six total selections, the second-most of any team.

Defender Sarah Cooper led the way as the only Syracuse player selected to the first-team, while leading-scorer Meaghan Tyrrell was named to the second-team.

Injured star Megan Carney did enough before her season was cut short to earn third-team honors, where she was joined by do-everything defender Ella Simkins. Midfielder Sam Swart and defender Kerry Defliese earned honorable mention selections.

Cooper, the anchor of the SU defense, has now been an All-American all three of her years on campus, although this is her first time on the first-team. This is the second All-American selection for Tyrrell, Carney and Defliese, and the first time Simkins and Swart have earned the accolade.

Congratulations to our All-Americans on these wonderful, and well-deserved honors!

And congratulations to you on correctly guessing that North Carolina was the team that had more selections than SU, as the Tar Heels came in with eight total selections, an insane five of which were on the first team. UNC’s five first-team members was more than almost every other individual school had in total. We get it - North Carolina’s really good!

The Final Four teams were all, of course, well-represented. Northwestern and Boston College both had five selections each.

There were 64 players named, which means the 24 players from the four semifinalists make up 37.5 percent of the All-American teams. The fact that almost 40 percent of the All-Americans are represented by just four teams is pretty remarkable...now I guess we know why they’re the last teams standing.

Looks like we’re in for a fantastic weekend of lacrosse featuring a whole lot of the best players in the country. It all gets started with the Final Four on Friday afternoon, with UNC and BC facing each other in the first game before the Orange take on the undefeated Wildcats at 2:30(ish) p.m. ET in the second game.

Tune in to cheer on our ladies as they pursue their first ever national championship, and Let’s Go Orange!!!