Syracuse women’s lacrosse: ACC Tournament Quarterfinal vs. Stanford preview and game thread

The Orange are in desperate need of a win after their recent stretch, but they’ve got a tough matchup with a revenge-minded Stanford team to open the ACCT.

The Syracuse Orange are spiraling at the exact worst time of the season.

‘Cuse has lost three of their last four games, and are coming off one of the worst losses in program history in their 17-2 dismantling at the hands of Boston College.

Tonight, they play a massive game for their tournament resume, not to mention the overall vibes around the team, as the ACC Tournament begins with the quarterfinal round down in Charlotte.

The Orange are the No. 6 seed and will take on the No. 3 seed Stanford Cardinal in the night cap that is scheduled for 8 PM on the ACC Network, but might start later due to the game before it.

• All-time series: 7th meeting; Syracuse leads, 5-1
• Last meeting: Syracuse W, 14-13 (2OT), on March 7, 2025
• Syracuse this season: 9-7 overall, 5-4 ACC
• Stanford this season: 13-4 overall, 7-2 ACC

This is already an exciting rematch of a double-overtime thriller from the regular season, but on top of that, the outcome of this matchup obviously has huge NCAA Tournament implications for both teams.

It’s a very difficult draw for SU, especially given their recent run of form. Stanford has one of the best defenses in the country, ranking seventh nationally at 8.82 goals-against per game. That’s an unfortunate assignment for a ‘Cuse offense that’s been struggling to find rhythm, not to mention production, recently. The Orange have mustered only 23 goals combined in their three recent losses to Yale, Virginia Tech and Boston College.

A big reason for Stanford’s stinginess on defense is goalie Lucy Pearson, who ranks 12th in the country with a 9.07 GAA and 20th with a 46.9 save percentage.

On offense, the Cardinal are led by attacker Aliya Polisky (53G, 14A) and her 67 points. This is an incredibly intriguing matchup, given that in the regular season SU held Polisky to her lowest output of the year. In every other game, she scored at least three points; the Orange held her to a single assist.

In that matchup, ‘Cuse deployed the face-guard of Polisky by Superia Clark, and it worked beautifully while the Orange forced other players to beat them while taking away their best player. The face-guard hasn’t been utilized as much recently and hasn’t had as much success when it is, so it’ll be interesting to see how Caitlin Defliese approaches this game plan. You’d have to assume they’d be going for it again after it worked so well in the first meeting.

Elsewhere, Ava Arceri (46G, 17A) is their second-leading scorer with 63 points on the season, and she stepped up with a hat trick in the first game. Elise Murphy (16G, 25A) and Martha Oakey (15G, 26A) are tied for third on the team with 41 points, and they tied for the team lead with four points each back in March.