It’s an intra-state meeting on a Tuesday afternoon for the Orange and Big Red.
After an impressive, 15-9 road win over Maryland on the weekend, the Syracuse Orange are back home for a mid-week clash with the Cornell Big Red.
While the Orange are usually the vastly superior team in the in-state matchup, this is a classic trap game as it falls in the middle of a huge win over a big-time opponent and two games in the next week against North Carolina and Northwestern.
SU has much bigger mountains to climb in the coming days, but they have to make sure they don’t look too far ahead and get themselves into unnecessary trouble with what’s on the horizon.
The game is set for a 4 PM opening draw on ACC Network Extra.
Moving on up https://t.co/VJaKdEUtRC pic.twitter.com/JPXJ6LJcF6
— Syracuse Women’s Lacrosse (@CuseWLAX) February 17, 2025
- All-time series: 27th meeting; Syracuse leads, 21-5
- Last meeting: Syracuse W, 17-4, on April 2, 2024
- Syracuse this season: 2-0
- Cornell this season: 1-0
The Big Red were picked to finish sixth in the Ivy League preseason poll after going 7-8 last year. They opened up their 2025 season over the weekend with a 14-8 win on the road against Jacksonville.
They’re a veteran team who return seven of their nine top scorers from last season, including their returning leading goal (35) and point (47) scorer, attacker Josie Vogel, and their returning leading assist (20) scorer, attacker Kylie Gelabert.
In their season-opening win, midfielder Caitlin Slaminko (4G, 2A) and attacker Ella Wilmot (3G, 3A) both registered six-point days, while Josie Vogel (3G) joined them as the third player with a hat trick in the game.
They’re also a veteran team in the net, as their top two goalies from last year are back and both played in the opener. Starter Ellie Horner returns after starting all but one game last season, and she’s joined by backup Mackenzie Clark, who appeared in 11 games in 2024.
Against Jacksonville, Horner started and made two saves while giving up three goals in a little less than half the game. Clark came in and made six saves while surrendering five goals in relief to help secure the win.
As a team, the Big Red struggled in their opener in the middle of the field, losing both the draw control (10-15) and ground ball (11-16) battles.