Sophomore Olivia Adamson (center left) and junior Katie Goodale battle against Boston College at the 2023 Women’s Lacrosse Championship in Cary, North Carolina.
Syracuse University’s epic run in the NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Tournament ended Friday, May 26, falling to the No. 3 seed Boston College Eagles 8-7. Playing in front of a packed house at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina, the No. 2 seed Orange finished the year with an 18-3 record. They not only had the best start in program history, going undefeated for almost the entire season, but also spent a career-best five weeks at No. 1.
Senior Delaney Sweitzer finished the season with 185 saves, ranking fourth on the Orange’s single-season record list.
Despite the loss, the Orange performed admirably on Friday. Junior Emma Ward scored a pair of goals, finishing the season with a career-high 94 points, while sophomore Olivia Adamson earned three points and eight draw controls.
Senior Delany Sweitzer tied her career high with six ground balls and caused a career-best four turnovers. “Delaney proved today that she’s the top goaltender in the country,” Head Coach Kayla Treanor ’16 said.
Sophomore Olivia Adamson scored the Orange’s first goal nearly a minute into play.
With a trip to a national title game on the line, the Orange went into Championship Weekend—their ninth such appearance—having been ranked No. 1 by the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA). The Orange launched an explosive attack and held the lead until the final minutes of the game.
I’m incredibly proud of our team. There’s so much love, on and off the field, and they’re good people—they care about one another. You see a lot of magic because of that.
Head Coach Kayla Treanor ’16
“We have a ton of people coming back next year and are working with a lot of the same chemistry,” graduate student Meaghan Tyrrell (left) says. “I’m pumped to see where this team takes itself in the future.”
The Orange had one of the nation’s highest-scoring offenses this season, due in part to graduate student Meaghan Tyrrell. In April, she notched her 397th point, surpassing Treanor and Katie Rowan Thomson ’09, G’10 as the program’s all-time points leader.
“She will go down as one of Syracuse’s greatest players ever,” says Treanor of Tyrrell, who is a finalist for the second year in a row for the Tewaaraton Award (lacrosse’s equivalent of football’s Heisman Trophy). “Meaghan has had an amazing career and should be proud of herself.”
“I’m incredibly proud of our girls,” says Treanor (right), whose team finished No. 3 in the final rankings. The four-time All-American is in her second season as head coach.
Tyrrell and Sweitzer—ACC Attacker and Goalkeeper of the Year, respectively—headline a group of Syracuse players named to the USA Lacrosse Magazine and IWLCA’s All-America teams.
Tyrrell had this to say about her teammates after Friday’s game, the last of her college career: “I think what I’m leaving behind is the importance of people. Lacrosse is a game that’s a huge part of your life, but the people that you meet and interact with are so much more important.”
Photos courtesy of Syracuse Athletics.
