What questions Syracuse field hockey needs to address in 2026
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Syracuse’s 2025 season ended in heartbreak.
Then-No. 10 SU fell 2-1 to third-seeded Princeton in the NCAA Tournament Third Round despite beating the Tigers in the regular season. The Orange were a game from the Final Four, but didn’t reach it for the 10th straight year.
With the loss in the rearview mirror as 2026 starts, Syracuse begins at No. 9 in the NFHCA Preseason Poll, exactly where it finished 2025. Despite SU’s top-10 ranking, head coach Lynn Farquhar is working with a vastly different team.
Significant roster turnover means Syracuse has several questions heading into the 2026 season. Here are four questions SU must answer in its quest for a sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament berth:
Can Syracuse outrun Bo van Kempen’s long shadow?
Syracuse was the Bo van Kempen show in 2025. She accounted for 39% of SU’s scoring last season, scoring 23 of its 59 goals and garnering multiple honors, including NFHCA Mideast Player of the Year and NFHCA All-American First Team.
But van Kempen isn’t there anymore. SU’s biggest question mark in 2026 involves how Farquhar replaces her scoring.
It’s not realistic to expect one player to fill van Kempen’s void. Instead, an amalgamation of players must improve their scoring. Two likely options to fill the hole are senior Hattie Madden and sophomore Aubrey Turner.
Hattie Madden sprints upfield in Syracuse’s win over Penn State on Sept. 28, 2025. Madden was SU’s second-leading scorer last year, only behind former Orange defender Bo van Kempen. Chris Calabrese | Asst. Photo Editor
Turner was one of Syracuse’s most productive freshmen in 2025 with 18 points, while Madden tallied 19. The two are SU’s highest returning scorers.
Taylor Bigbie could also have an offensive impact. While she had a limited role last season, only starting once, Bigbie is poised to take a leap with more playing time. She joined Turner and Farquhar at the Four Nations tournament this summer, representing the United States, showing the coach’s faith in the sophomore.
Which goalie starts?
In 2025, Syracuse had two goalies. Jessie Eiselin and Tane King split the regular season, with Eiselin starting more before being pulled for King in the second half. As the playoffs began, however, Eiselin appeared to win the starting job, starting each postseason contest.
Their regular-season stats were nearly identical. King allowed goals at a higher rate, with a 1.62 GAA compared to Eiselin’s 1.35. However, King’s 71.7% save rate bested Eiselin’s 71.2% mark.
The difference is negligible on both counts, so going off their 2025 seasons, there’s no reason to stop the platoon system that helped SU win 13 games.
If Syracuse doesn’t platoon its goalies, Eiselin will likely receive more playing time after starting last year’s postseason. Even if Eiselin plays more, King should still have plenty of field time as a backup.
Tane King (30) gathers on the field with teammates on Oct. 17, 2025. King and SU’s other goalie, Jessie Eiselin, split time last season and both return to the Orange this year. Tara Deluca | Photo Editor
Can SU flip 1-goal ACC losses into wins?
Despite going 8-0 against nonconference opponents, Syracuse went a paltry 3-5 in 2025 against Atlantic Coast Conference teams in the regular season. The ACC has become one of the most competitive conferences, boasting six teams in the NFHCA preseason rankings.
While close games are an ACC norm, with only four contests having a margin of four or more goals in 2025, Syracuse’s seven games decided by one were especially high. Its largest margin in a conference game was its 3-1 victory over Boston College. Conversely, SU lost its five ACC games by a goal, including an overtime loss to Wake Forest, which Syracuse beat later in the ACC Tournament.
Though SU’s one-goal losses were frustrating, they could easily become wins in 2026. If the Orange flip one or two of them, they’d be in a better postseason position. If Syracuse plays well defensively, and helps the offense continue outshooting its opponents by a wide margin, its losses from last year could flip.
Will the defense continue producing offensively?
The hallmark of SU’s 2025 squad was its defense’s ability to score effectively. Both Syracuse’s goal (van Kempen) and assist leader (Pati Strunk) played defense.
But this year, the Orange’s defense is a wildcard. Farquhar has a major question to answer in 2026: Will Syracuse’s backline keep conducting its offense, or will its midfielders and forwards be forced to carry the load?
The answer may be one of Syracuse’s newcomers, Genevieve Huston. Huston was one of New York’s best high school players for the past five years, winning five state titles and setting school records for career (95) and single-season (27) assists. Syracuse may depend on Huston to produce at a high level defensively this season.
While speculation persists now, the Orange should begin answering those questions when their season starts Friday against Fairfield.
