Syracuse women’s lacrosse: Orange ranked No. 1 in the country

For just the second time in program history, the Syracuse Orange women’s lacrosse team is ranked No. 1 in the country, as was revealed on Monday in the ILWomen/IWLCA Division I Poll.

The Orange had been ranked second in the poll for the last four weeks, and moved up to the top spot thanks to Northwestern beating North Carolina on Sunday. ‘Cuse’s season-opening win over NW helped them take over the top spot ahead of the Wildcats.

The ladies are coming off an outstanding week, earning road wins over ranked teams in Loyola and Duke.

With Carolina’s drop from the top, this marks the first time that a team other than UNC or BC has been ranked No. 1 since all the way back in 2019. That’s a year before the pandemic started! Yowza!

SU received 19 first-place votes in taking the top spot, while Northwestern garnered five first-place tallies and the No. 2 ranking. UNC dropped to No. 3 after their loss.

The top five is rounded out by a pair of (somewhat) surprising teams off to great starts. Denver rises to No. 4 after they pulled a big win over Boston College this weekend, and James Madison jumps up to No. 5 after they beat Florida.

Unfortunately, the rise of those two teams means that Stony Brook drop down to No. 6, meaning we won’t officially have a top-5 battle on Wednesday night in the Dome. That’s okay, we’ll just have to settle for a top-6 battle instead!

Boston College, Florida, Loyola, and Maryland close out the top-10 of this week’s poll.

There is no rest for the top-ranked Orange, as they will play their fourth straight ranked opponent in a 12-day span on Wednesday, March 22 in a primetime, televised matchup with the No. 6 Stony Brook Seawolves at 8 PM on ESPN U.