Syracuse lacrosse: Orange drop in polls after second straight rough weekend

A second consecutive bad weekend saw another drop in the polls for the Syracuse Orange lacrosse teams this week.

The women bowed out of the ACC Tournament in the semifinals against North Carolina, while the men fell short against Duke in their final game of the season.

As a result, the women dropped down two spots to the No. 4 ranking in the ILWomen/IWLCA Division I Poll while the men dropped three spots to No. 18 in the Inside Lacrosse Division I Media Poll and one spot to No. 20 in the USILA Coaches Poll.

The women are sitting behind Northwestern at No. 1, ACC Tournament champion Boston College at No. 2, and North Carolina at No. 3. Unbeaten Denver comes in behind SU to close out the top-5 at No. 5.

For the men’s polls, the ACC continues to dominate the top as they populate the first three spots in both. The Orange’s last two opponents, Duke and Virginia, are No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. Notre Dame comes in at No. 3.

Kimber Hower Injury

The news was bad both on and off the field for the women’s team over the weekend.

It was announced via the women’s lacrosse Instagram account that redshirt senior goalie Kimber Hower is officially out for the remainder of the season due to an “ongoing upper body injury”.

In recent games, Hower has been on the sideline in street clothes for what we can assume was the aftermath of this upper body injury. Kimber has been the primary backup this season, but has barely played. This news leaves Delaney Sweitzer and junior Tate Paulson as the only active goalies on the roster.

Hower had appeared in only four games this season, making only four saves with a .267 save percentage and a 12.58 goals-against average.