Syracuse women’s lacrosse: Maryland preview and game thread

The wait is finally over! Syracuse women’s lacrosse is back, and the Regy Thorpe era is officially ready to begin in Central New York.

And we’re not wasting any time easing into things, as Thorpe and his No. 11 Orange host the No. 7 Maryland Terrapins for a top-flight opening weekend showdown.

Opening draw will kick off the 2026 season shortly after 5 PM on ACC Network Extra.

Maryland is coming off a season in which they went 15-6 (7-1 Big Ten) and were upset in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in double overtime by Penn, 11-10.

They’re coached by the legendary Cathy Reese, who in this game will begin her 20th season at the helm of her alma mater. She’s won 12 national championships across her entire career as a player and coach, including five titles as head coach of the Terrapins.

Maryland was the team of the decade under Reese in the 2010s, winning the title in 2010, ‘14, ‘15, ‘17 and ‘19. In a post-COVID landscape, however, they’ve fallen back a little bit. They had an excellent season in 2022, going 19-2 and making it to the Final Four. But in four of the last five years, they’ve lost either six or seven games each season, lost in the NCAA Second Round three times and the NCAA Quarterfinal once. They’re still among the top teams in the country every year, but they have understandably fallen off their insane pace from last decade.

Scouting Maryland

The Terps are a veteran team that returns the majority of their biggest and most important contributors from last season.

They retained their starting goalie, most of their top defenders and most of their draw control unit. Offensively, they return a whopping 76.5 percent of their points from last year, which includes eight of their top 10 scorers, all of whom reached at least the 20-point plateau.

Their leader is senior Kori Edmondson, one of the best all-around midfielders in the country. Last year, she led the Terps in points (73), goals (59), free-position goals (25) and ground balls (38), while also finishing second in draw controls (70) and caused turnovers (18) and third in assists (14). Her production is everywhere and her impact on the game is significant, so it’s certainly not a surprise that she was selected as a first team All-American in preseason.

They also return a pair of super-sophomores coming off impressive debuts. Midfielder Kayla Gilmore made an immediate impact last year, leading Maryland in draw controls (93) while also scoring 23 points. She was selected as a preseason All-American, as well. Attacker Shelby Sullivan made a similar impact to her classmate, scoring 20 goals and grabbing 55 draw wins as a rookie.

Graduate student Jordyn Lipkin also returns as the team’s second-leading goal scorer after pouring in 40 goals last year.

The Orange are going to have a big challenge right out of the gates with Maryland’s draw unit. Led by Gilmore, Edmondson and Sullivan, they were 19th nationally last year winning 56.5 percent of their draw controls. Those three stars combined for an amazing 72 percent of those wins, so the inexperienced and (last year) inefficient ‘Cuse draw will get an immediate test as they attempt to revamp themselves.

On defense, senior Neve O’Ferrall was named a preseason All-American after causing 25 turnovers and scooping 34 ground balls last year. They’re a very veteran group that includes graduate student Maddy Sterling, junior Annabella Schafer and graduate student Kennedy Major.

Junior goalie JJ Suriano is coming off an excellent sophomore campaign in which she started all 21 games, had a 9.62 goals-against average and a .490 save percentage. As a defense, the Terps finished last year 17th nationally in scoring at 9.76 goals-against per game.