It’s been quite the week for Syracuse Orange lacrosse.

While the headlines have gone to John Desko and Gary Gait, there’s been a lot of activity going on for the women’s players, as well, both on and off the field.

Let’s take a quick look at some of the accolades that the Orange ladies have garnered in the last few days:

IWLCA All-Americans

On Tuesday, the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) announced their 2021 All-America teams, and no surprise that Syracuse was well represented.

Five members of the Orange were named All-Americans by the coaches. Meaghan Tyrrell and Sarah Cooper led the way as first-team selections. Megan Carney was named to the second team despite having her season cut short, and Asa Goldstock and Ella Simkins rounded out the honorees by being named to the third team.

The five selections tied Syracuse with North Carolina and Boston College for the most by any school, and are the highest number of IWLCA All-Americans in program history.

‘Athletes Unlimited’ College Draft

The professional women’s lacrosse league known as ‘Athletes Unlimited’ will be debuting this summer, and on Tuesday afternoon, they held their inaugural college draft.

13 players were selected to join the league, and among that group were two Syracuse players. Asa Goldstock was taken fourth while Ella Simkins was taken 12th.

The spot they were taken actually doesn’t matter since the league has an unusual setup where they don’t have set teams that compete week-in and week-out. Each week, they will draft new teams to compete against each other in order to, I assume, mix things up and keep them fresh. Who knows, but it’s an interesting idea.

The season’s going to take place from July 23 to August 22 in the Washington, DC metro area, and the league is actually going to get some great exposure in their inaugural season. They have deals in place to air games on CBS Sports Network, FS1, and FS2, among others.

It’s a very exciting development for professional women’s lacrosse, and it’s very cool for Asa and Ella that they’ll get to be a part of it. Congrats to them!

Team USA Tryouts

From Wednesday to Friday of this week, US Lacrosse is holding their tryouts for the players who will represent Team USA at the 2022 World Lacrosse Women's World Championship.

As you would expect, a number of current and former Orange players are at the tryout being held at USA Lacrosse headquarters in Sparks, MD.

From the current roster, Sarah Cooper, Sam Swart and Emily Hawryschuk were all invited to the tryout. It should tell you exactly how highly they think of Emily that they invited her even though she’s in the middle of recovering from her ACL tear back in February. She won't be able to compete with the ladies this weekend, but they clearly are thinking of her for next year if they’ve invited her to come (the invitations were handed out after Emily’s injury).

The trio are joined at the tryout by a handful of Orange alumni: Kayla Treanor ‘16, Michelle Tumolo ‘13, Becca Block ‘13 and Liz Hogan ‘11. Treanor, Tumolo and Block all helped Team USA win gold at the 2017 World Championships, while Hogan has plenty of previous national team experience.

Additionally, current Orange assistant coach Sydney Pirreca has also earned an invitation to the tryout, so the SU connections are all over the place.

There are over 60 players who have been invited to tryout for the best women’s lacrosse team in the world, and the competition is fierce to say the least. Only 18 players will ultimately be selected to represent the US at next year’s World Championships, so the Team USA coaching staff will have some very difficult decisions ahead of them.

Congrats to all our current and former Orange for their inclusion in the tryouts, and here’s hoping at least a few of them will make the team to go for gold next year!