Syracuse lacrosse was named the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night. It is SU’s 35th tournament appearance.
The seeding was a somewhat surprising for the Orange, which was ranked No. 1 heading into the weekend. Syracuse went on to defeat No. 12 Colgate on Saturday to claim the top spot in the LaxPower RPI rankings. But it wasn’t enough, as Notre Dame was name the No. 1 overall seed in the 18-team field.
Syracuse lost to Notre Dame, 13-12, in double overtime in the teams’ only matchup this season. Notre Dame missed a second date with the Orange after it was ousted by Duke in the ACC Championship. The Orange would go on to claim its first conference title with a win over Duke.
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SU will play in its familiar time slot of 7:30 p.m. on Sunday at the Carrier Dome, and the game will be televised on ESPNU. The Orange will draw the winner of the play-in game between Marist and Bryant.
Should the Orange face Marist, it will play a team that is making just its second appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Red Foxes played in the 2005 tournament but were eliminated in the first round.
Marist went 13-3 overall this season and a perfect 6-0 in the Metro Atlantic Conference. They boast one of the top offenses in the country, averaging 12.13 goals per game, good for 12th in the country.
SU lacrosse fans should be plenty familiar with SU’s other potential first round matchup, Bryant. The Bulldogs shocked the Orange in the first round of the 2014 tourney, eliminating the Orange in a low-scoring 10-9 affair.
Bryant went 8-9 overall this season, but won the Northeast Conference Championship, 10-6, over top-seeded Saint Joseph’s. The Bulldogs never trailed and improved to 4-0 in NEC Championship games.
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