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Syracuse women’s lacrosse enters the ACC Tournament in a much different spot than last season. In 2024, the Orange earned the No. 1 seed after winning the ACC regular-season title, advancing to the championship before losing to No. 3 seed Boston College. But to finish this campaign, SU has struggled. After losing three of its last four games, it sits at No. 17 in the country and capped the regular season with two of its worst losses of the season — a 14-11 defeat to unranked Virginia Tech and an embarrassing 15-goal blowout to No. 2 BC.

Now, SU heads into the ACC Tournament as the No. 6 seed of eight teams. The Orange’s path to their second consecutive ACC title game is rocky. Syracuse will face No. 3 seed Stanford in the first round, before likely needing to beat the top two teams in the conference — No. 1 seed North Carolina and No. 2 seed BC — if it wants to capture the ACC championship.

Here’s how our beat writers think No. 3 seed Syracuse (9-7, 5-4 ACC) will fare in the ACC Tournament, which starts Wednesday:

Aiden Stepansky
Rinse, repeat
Finish: Semifinal exit

A year ago, Syracuse walked into the ACC Tournament as a bona fide powerhouse. The Orange entered as the No. 1 seed, and promptly decimated their first two opponents by a combined score of 36-12. This year is quite different, but SU’s hopes of an ACC title will end in a similar fashion.

I see Syracuse defeating Stanford before yet another loss to Boston College — the ninth straight in the head-to-head matchup and fifth in the last 12 months. It’s no question the Orange have sluggishly crawled their way into the tournament this year, and a 17-2 loss to the Eagles less than a week ago is up there for the worst performances in program history. Still, SU matches up well enough with the Cardinal to win a neutral-site game.

The Orange did well in the first matchup, limiting leading attacker Aliya Polisky, and came out on top in a tight one. While SU’s overall shown recent struggles, a week of preparation plus a matchup with a team it already defeated should serve it well. In the end, however, it somehow always comes down to BC. The Eagles will once again trounce the Orange and send them packing in another postseason tournament.

Noah Nussbaum
Spinning Out
Finish: Quarterfinal exit

Syracuse’s season reminds me of a tornado. Always spinning. Unpredictable. SU, similar to a common twister, can never seem to make up its mind. One game, it’ll stay in control the entire way, like in its 18-6 domination of Cal. Next, it’ll look completely overmatched, like versus BC.

Because of that parity, the ACC Tournament will likely define the Orange’s season. Sure, they may make the NCAA Tournament. But an early exit in ACCs wouldn’t exude any confidence there. SU — sitting at 9-8 — would be a mere peasant among lacrosse’s royalty.

So, Syracuse can either continue to spin out and prolong its worst season under Treanor with a loss to Stanford. Or, it can pick itself up, beat the Cardinal and potentially finally exorcise its demons against Boston College.

But that’s unrealistic. SU hasn’t shown anything over its last two games that gives me hope it’ll beat BC — or even Stanford. So, the Cardinal will exact their revenge on Wednesday. Though the Orange downed them in their first matchup, it took them two overtime periods to do so. This time, I expect Stanford to take the reins of the Orange tornado and ride it to victory, cementing SU’s campaign as one of its worst of all time.

Matthew Gray
One and done
Finish: Semifinal exit

2025 has been a rough season for Syracuse. After program pillars like Emma Tyrrell, Kate Mashewske and Savannah Sweitzer departed last offseason, some growing pains were expected with a new wave of starters. But I never imagined things would unravel this badly.

Early setbacks against powerhouses like North Carolina and Northwestern showed the Orange needed to grow if they wanted to challenge Boston College. But without Olivia Adamson’s guidance due to injury, that growth never came. SU’s midseason four-game winning streak made it seem like it was trending in the right direction, but a stunning upset loss to unranked Virginia Tech set it back to square one. From there, an embarrassing 17-2 defeat to the Eagles was all but expected.

Top-tier teams don’t lose to unranked teams, they don’t finish with a 9-7 record and they don’t lose by 15 to their arch rival. That’s why I believe Syracuse’s time in the ACC Tournament will be brief. Knowing it has beaten Stanford before, Syracuse can eke out yet another close win against the Cardinal. From there, it’s hard to see how it will manage to go any further with Boston College standing in its way once again. Another ugly loss to the Eagles will put an end to one of Syracuse’s most disappointing campaigns.

Published on April 22, 2025 at 10:08 pm