The Syracuse Orange women’s lacrosse team earned the No. 2 seed in the 2023 Division I NCAA Tournament.
We're going dancing‼️
— Syracuse Women's Lacrosse (@CuseWLAX) May 8, 2023
See you next weekend at the SU Soccer Stadium! pic.twitter.com/ujtRHMMPMm
As one of the top three seeds, ‘Cuse receives a first-round bye and will play the winner of Johns Hopkins and UMass in the second round on Sunday, May 14 at 3 PM at the SU Soccer Stadium. Hopkins and UMass will play each other on Friday.
Johns Hopkins, out of the Big 10, went 8-8 this season against a very difficult schedule that included Northwestern and Maryland in conference and Loyola, James Madison and Stony Brook out of conference. They lost all those games, although only by one to Maryland. The Blue Jays were ranked No. 18 in last week’s poll.
UMass went 16-2 on their way to winning the Atlantic 10 regular season title, although they stumbled against Richmond yesterday in the A10 Tournament championship game. Before that loss, they had won 15 games in a row dating back to a 10-goal loss to Boston College in their second game of the season. They were ranked No. 13 in last week’s poll.
The Orange were able to hold on to the No. 2 seed despite their recent struggles thanks to having the No. 2 RPI, the No. 2 SOS, and the second-most wins vs. the RPI Top 20. Anyone else picking up on the theme here?
It serves as a reminder that the entire season is what the committee looks at when seeding teams, meaning their February 4 win over Northwestern is considered just as carefully and equally as the April 28 loss to North Carolina. Turns out, winning 15 games in a row, including five against RPI Top 10 teams, goes a long way when it comes to NCAA Tournament placement.
Selection Sunday pic.twitter.com/pKu6Y6KUgM
— Syracuse Women's Lacrosse (@CuseWLAX) May 8, 2023
The No. 1 seed, unsurprisingly, went to Northwestern, who have won 17 games in a row since losing to Syracuse in their first game of the season. The third and final bye-seed went to No. 3 Boston College, who do have the head-to-head win over SU, but had a lower RPI and SOS and had one more loss than the Orange.
North Carolina grabbed the No. 4 seed, while undefeated Denver got a very difficult draw at the No. 5 seed, which includes a potential second round meeting with Virginia ahead of a potential quarterfinal meeting with the Tar Heels.
The seeded teams were rounded out by Florida at No. 6, James Madison at No. 7, and Loyola at No. 8. James Madison is the seeded team that would line up with Syracuse should both teams make it to the quarterfinals, but the Dukes have a potential second round meeting with Maryland to go through first. So, James Madison and Maryland are the two most likely quarterfinal opponents for SU should they make it there.
The Orange now have their second week between games to continue to rest up and figure out their recent struggles before May Madness begins for them on Sunday.
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