Syracuse women’s lacrosse: Sierra Cockerille and Tessa Queri returning in 2023

The Syracuse Orange women’s lacrosse team is going to be fielding quite the talented and experienced roster in 2023.

We knew that already, but it was further confirmed late last week when the ‘Cuse WLAX IG account officially welcomed Sierra Cockerille and Tessa Queri back for next season.

Sierra and Tessa are joining Meaghan Tyrrell and Meg Carney as last year’s seniors/grad students who are taking advantage of their extra year of eligibility provided by the shortened 2020 season.

The four of them coming back gives next year’s team an incredible leadership base from four players with a lot of combined years of college lacrosse under their belts.

Sierra will be returning from a season-ending lower-body injury that she suffered in game number five against Northwestern on March 1. She’s a really talented all-around player who factors into every phase of the game. When she got injured last year, she had compiled five goals, three assists, five GBs, three CTs, and nine draw controls; just doing some of everything to help the team win. She puts up points and helps move the ball on offense, plays an impactful defensive midfield, and starts as a wing on draws.

Her re-insertion into the lineup will be a big boost to the Orange midfield that was hit so hard by injuries last season. She and Emma Tyrrell will both be returning from their season-ending injuries to likely start at midfield for ‘Cuse next year. Players like Jenny Markey, Maddy Baxter and Natalie Smith (among others) will be competing for minutes at offensive midfield alongside them, giving the Orange really strong depth in the middle of the field.

Tessa transferred into SU last year after finishing her career at Harvard but missing most of 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, and played an important role on defense in her first season in Orange. A consistent presence on the defensive end, she finished the year fourth on the team in caused turnovers with 11, and sixth on the team in ground balls with 18.

She’ll return this year as one of the leaders of a defense returning most of their pieces from last year. Katie Goodale, Bianca Chevarie and Hallie Simkins all return as starters from last season, although the big loss is Sarah Cooper not returning for her her extra year (she’s been playing in the Athletes Unlimited professional league this summer).

While Sarah is obviously a huge loss, the positive is the rest of the defense returning in tact. Last year, we had an entire defense to replace where chemistry and communication needed to be built up as the year went on. That won’t be the case next season, and that’s great news for that end of the field.

Welcome back to Sierra and Tessa! We can’t wait to see you back out there next spring!