Syracuse women’s lacrosse: NCAA Tournament First Round vs. Fairfield

Our two-week wait to see the Syracuse Orange women’s lacrosse team back on the field is officially over.

The No. 5 seed Orange open up their 2022 NCAA Tournament today when they take on the MAAC Champion Fairfield Stags down in Princeton, NJ. Opening draw is set for 4 PM and will be broadcast on ESPN+.

The Orange are 13-5 this season, but have had two weeks to sit on their upset loss to Virginia in the ACC Tournament. Hopefully, we’re going to see a fresh and rejuvenated ‘Cuse team take the field today.

SU has been led all season by the play of Meaghan Tyrrell, who just yesterday was named a finalist for the Tewaaraton Award. Meaghan enters the day at 99 points this season. With her next point, she will become just the third player in program history to record 100 points in a season multiple times in her career (Katie Rowan, Alyssa Murray). She is also just four points shy of becoming the sixth Syracuse player to reach the 300-point plateau.

One of those 300-point performers who reached that mark earlier this season is Emily Hawryschuk, who has gotten continually stronger as the year has progressed. Emily has scored a whopping 23 goals in the last five games. Meg Carney has also reemerged from the injury list in the last two games and has now had two full weeks to hopefully get even healthier. That trio is going to need to be on point in leading this offense if SU is going to make some noise in this tournament, but we’ll also need to see contributions from younger players like Olivia Adamson, Natalie Smith and Jenny Markey to help take some pressure off the veterans.

Fairfield earned their AQ into the NCAA’s by winning the MAAC Tournament for the fourth straight time. They are 13-6 this season, and have won five consecutive games after starting the year 8-6.

Fairfield has a very well-balanced offense that likes to share the ball. They have seven players who have amassed 40 points this year, including five 30-goal scorers and four players with at least 20 assists.

This is just the fourth all-time meeting between the two programs, with the Orange having won all three prior contests. The two have not met since the 2000 season when Syracuse claimed a 17-3 victory.