Syracuse women’s lacrosse narrowly missed the Top 10 ranking in the preseason poll

Syracuse, NY — The Syracuse women’s lacrosse team narrowly missed a top-10 finish to open the 2026 season.

USA Lacrosse Magazine ranks Syracuse 11th in his preseason Top 20 poll.

Syracuse will face nine teams in the Top 20, including top 3 North Carolina, Northwestern and Boston College.

The Orange will start the season 10-9 in 2025.

Regy Thorpe enters his first season as head coach, replacing Kayla Treanor, who left Syracuse for Penn State.

SU lost leading scorer Emma Ward to graduation and high-scoring attack Olivia Adamson to transfer Portal (Northwest), but returns several of its top scorers from last year including Emma Muchnick, Caroline Trinkaus, Gracie Britton and Alexa Volgelman.

Thorpe also bolstered SU’s defense in the portal by adding Virginia’s Cece Webb and Albany’s Mackenzie Salentre to put them in front of returning goalkeeper Daniella Guyette.

The Orange open the season Feb. 6 against No. 8 Maryland at the JMA Dome.

Thorpe’s first schedule begins with a total of four straight games against teams that participated in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, including the defending national champion Tar Heels on Feb. 13.

The complete 2026 preseason survey is below.

*denotes opponent Syracuse

*1. North Carolina

*2. Northwest

*3. Boston College

4. Florida

5. Princeton

*6. Stanford

*7. Virginia

*8. Maryland

9. Clemson

10. Johns Hopkins

11. Syracuse

12th Penn

13. Michigan

14. Navy

*15. Yale

16. Stone stream

*17. Duke

*18. Loyola

19. Denver

20. James Madison

Also considered (in alphabetical order): Army, Harvard, Penn State, South Florida, USC