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Meaghan Tyrrell scored on SU’s opening possession of the 2022 NCAA Tournament quarterfinal game. Outside the 12-meter, Meaghan drifted toward the middle and then dodged hard, sending a quick shot into the left side of the net. But the Wildcats rattled off four straight goals, finishing the first quarter up 6-2 and keeping Meaghan scoreless until the third quarter.

Northwestern refused to give open looks inside after that first possession. Meaghan and Olivia Adamson were the only two SU players to score in the 15-4 massacre of the Orange. Just like in 2019, Northwestern sent Syracuse home in the NCAA Tournament.

“I think, of course, it’s in them — all those players that were on that team last year,” head coach Kayla Treanor said about the season-ending loss to NU. “But… this is a new team.”

Syracuse and Northwestern have met in each of the last three NCAA Tournaments and will face off again in the 2023 season opener on Saturday in the JMA Wireless Dome. Both teams will look significantly different than they did in last year’s postseason clash, with three of NU’s top scorers having graduated along with Syracuse all-time leading scorer, Emily Hawryschuk. In Treanor’s second season at the helm, No. 5 Syracuse has regained several key players heading into the matchup against the No. 4 ranked Wildcats.

SU’s first game being against Northwestern is “something really unique” draw-control specialist Kate Mashewske said, and the team is “definitely going to come out with some fire.”

Mashewske said she knows some players will want that victory a little extra, but added that Syracuse is preparing for the team it will face on Saturday and not the one last season. While Syracuse retained its top option in Meaghan, the Wildcats lost centerpiece Lauren Gilbert, who had 24 more points than the next-closest NU player.

The teams also met once in the 2022 regular season, where Northwestern beat SU 16-15 in overtime. The Wildcats were down 13-10 to begin the fourth quarter, but Gilbert took over, scoring three of the Wildcats’ five fourth-quarter goals as well as the game-winner. With Gilbert now gone, the Orange will prepare for a completely new Northwestern attack. Meaghan said the team wants to “prepare for everything.” She added that this year’s Syracuse squad has more experience and less injuries than last May.

“We are expecting people to step up both on their team and on our team,” Meaghan said.

Three of Northwestern’s top five scorers from last season — Gilbert, Jill Girardi and Brennan Dwyer — all graduated. Together, they accounted for 41.6% of the Wildcats’ points. Girard and Gilbert were also NU’s top-two draw-control specialists and shot-takers, and scored six of Northwestern’s 15 goals in the postseason matchup.

But NU returned Izzy Scane, the 2021 Big Ten Attacker of the Year, after she missed all of last season with an ACL tear. Allie Berkley and Elle Hansen also returned for their fifth years, while goalkeeper Molly Laliberty and attack Hailey Rhatigan joined the Wildcats, transferring from Tufts and Rutgers, respectively.

Meanwhile, Syracuse returned Meaghan after she was selected as a Tewaaraton Award finalist last year. Her sister Emma Tyrrell, who ranked third on the team in points despite only playing 12 games last year due to injury, makes her return as well. The Orange will also regain midfielder Sierra Cockerille and attack Emma Ward after each suffered season-ending injuries last year.

In 2021, when the Orange had Ward, Emma and Cockerille healthy, they defeated the Wildcats 21-13 in the semifinals before falling to Boston College in the national championship. Against Northwestern, the Tyrrell sisters combined for eight goals while Ward added three off the bench. For NU, Gilbert was limited to one score on six shots, while Scane managed four on nine attempts.

Syracuse and Northwestern have played at least once every year since 2006, including six times in the postseason. Syracuse had been 0-4 against Northwestern in the postseason, but dropped to 1-5 after last year’s one-sided showing.

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After winning its first ever matchup in 2003, Syracuse didn’t win another game against Northwestern until 2014. Since then, Syracuse leads the head-to-head matchup 6-5 including postseason. Despite the fierce intra-conference dynamic over the past few years, there’s mutual respect between the two teams, Hawryschuk said.

When Syracuse lost last May, Hawryschuk walked back to her sideline in despair, freshly mourning her playing career. But, Northwestern’s Erin Coykendall was the first to approach her.

Having grown up 30 minutes from each other in central New York, Hawryschuk and Coykendall had battled since high school as two of the top recruits in the nation. With Hawryschuk leaving the field for the last time, Coykendall expressed her gratitude for their continued competition.

“We had the same feeling when my junior year ended on that field as well,” Hawryschuk said with a lump in her throat. “They want to go into that game with a little bit more of a fire under their belt because it’s a team we face so often.”

Northwestern winning two of the last three successive NCAA Tournament matchups is not lost on this year’s team, either.

“I think that’s definitely something that lingers in the back of our minds,” Meaghan said.

Published on February 8, 2023 at 11:51 pm

Contact Wyatt: wbmiller@syr.edu