Syracuse lacrosse: Women move up, men hang on in this week’s polls

The Syracuse Orange lacrosse teams spent the weekend dueling with the Maryland Terrapins to mixed results.

The women made a statement with their dominant win, while the men kept it close in a road loss despite a significant possession deficit.

As a result of their statement win, the Orange moved up two spots to the No. 2 ranking in this week’s ILWomen/IWLCA Division I Poll, where they also received five first-place votes.

The team that received the other 20 first-place votes is the No. 1 team in this week’s poll, North Carolina. After SU at two, Northwestern also moved up two spots to the No. 3 spot after their big, comeback win over Boston College on Sunday. That loss dropped the Eagles to the No. 4 spot, where they come in just ahead of Stony Brook at No. 5. Maryland dropped four spots to No. 6 after their nine-goal loss to ‘Cuse.

The ladies are now 3-0 on the season after their 17-10 win over Binghamton on Monday afternoon. They will open up ACC play and hit the road for the first time this season when they travel to play Pittsburgh this Saturday, February 25 at 12 PM.

The men, coming off their first loss of the season at Maryland, dropped but remained ranked in both major polls this week.

‘Cuse dropped one spot to No. 19 in this week’s Inside Lacrosse Media Poll, while they dropped two spots to No. 18 in the USILA Coaches Poll.

The Orange’s next opponent, the North Carolina Tar Heels, moved up in both polls this week after they went 1-1 last week in a pair of road games. UNC beat Johns Hopkins on Tuesday with a dominant second-half performance for a four-goal win, and then lost to Ohio State by three on Sunday in a low-scoring affair. The Tar Heels are ranked No. 12 in the media poll and No. 16 in the coaches poll.

SU and UNC will both open up the ACC schedule this Saturday, February 25 at 3 PM in the JMA Dome. That game will also be broadcast on the ACC Network.