Syracuse selected to NCAA tournament as No. 5 overall seed
TJ Shaw | Staff Photographer
After notching its best regular season record since 2014, Syracuse (15-4, 5-2 Atlantic Coast) was selected as the No. 5 overall seed in the NCAA tournament on Sunday. SU will play the winner of Friday’s game between Penn and Georgetown, both unseeded, on Sunday in the Carrier Dome.
The last matchup between the Orange and Penn was 2015, when SU beat the Quakers, 13-10, in the NCAA tournament. Syracuse last played Georgetown in the 2013 Big East tournament final, when SU took down the Hoyas, 14-7.
The Orange earned an at-large bid after falling to then-No. 1 Boston College in the ACC tournament just over a week ago. They sat near the top of the polls all season and currently rank fourth in both Inside Lacrosse’s Media Poll and RPI. This is the eighth-straight year that Syracuse has made the NCAA tournament, despite a subpar last season in which it went 9-10.
All-season long, SU has proven capable of competing with top-ranked opponents. The Orange went 6-4 against the eight teams they played that made the NCAA tournament, including two wins versus No. 6 seed Virginia. Syracuse played Northwestern, its potential quarterfinals opponent, on Feb. 24 and defeated them, 15-14, in overtime on junior Emily Hawryschuk’s game-winner. The Wildcats defeated No. 1 seed Maryland in the Big Ten championship earlier today.
Should SU get past Northwestern, it’ll likely face the top-seeded Terrapins. The two teams met earlier this season, when Maryland defeated the Orange, 12-11, in overtime on March 9. Attack Nicole Levy, Meaghan Tyrrell, and Emily Hawryschuk all tallied four points for SU, which led Maryland 6-5 at halftime but never led again after the game was tied 90 seconds into the second half.
Published on May 5, 2019 at 8:20 pm
Contact Eric: erblack@syr.edu | @esblack34