Syracuse lacrosse: women move up in polls, men enter top 20

After a perfect weekend of lacrosse inside the JMA Dome, in which the Syracuse Orange men’s and women’s lacrosse teams combined to win three games over three days, both teams moved up in their respective polls.

The women moved up one spot to No. 4 in the ILWomen/IWLCA Division I Poll after their thrilling, 16-15 win over last week’s No. 4, Northwestern.

The poll, which is voted on by a mix of coaches and media members, is headed up at No. 1 by North Carolina, who received 21 of 24 first-place votes. At No. 2 is SU’s next opponent, the Maryland Terrapins, who received the other three first-place tallies. Boston College is the No. 3 team ahead of the Orange, while Northwestern flip-flopped with ‘Cuse after the weekend meeting at No. 5.

The women’s crazy schedule to start the season continues this weekend when they face their second straight top-five opponent, No. 2 Maryland, on Friday, February 17 at 3 PM on ACC Network Extra.

Meanwhile, the men entered into their respective polls for the first time this season after their comfortable wins over Albany and Holy Cross brought them to 3-0 on the year.

The men entered into the Inside Lacrosse Division I Media Poll at No. 18, while they climbed a little higher to No. 16 in the USILA Coaches Poll. The 3-0 start is great for the men, but the schedule is about to get ramped up, beginning with the team’s first road trip of the season this weekend down to College Park.

Maryland, who had an uncharacteristically poor performance last weekend in their 12-7 loss to Loyola, dropped in the rankings to No. 4 in the coaches poll and No. 9 in the media poll. Despite that loss, they are always a dangerous team, and they’ll be the biggest test of the year so far for this young SU team.

The men will head down for that weekend clash on Saturday, February 18 at 1 PM on BTN+.