After five consecutive matches in Ryan Fieldhouse, the Northwestern women’s lacrosse team is moving its indoor lacrosse show to Syracuse, at The Edifice Formerly Known As The Carrier Dome.
It’s February, which is usually not the best climate for the game of lacrosse. Especially in places where you’re either near, or downwind from, one of the Great Lakes because of the phenomenon of lake-effect snow.
But today’s game is one which, I feel, could shape the Final Four.
Northwestern and Syracuse, two teams which met each other in the national semifinals in 2021-22 and were this close from meeting each other the last two Division I tournaments, both have a defeat this season. Syracuse lost last weekend to North Carolina, while Northwestern lost its second match of the season against Boston College.
There are a lot of talented teams massing at the gates of the national Top 5, including the likes of Yale, Florida, Michigan, and Stanford, I am seeing a lessening of the divisions between teams, where you had a clear-cut top level, with everyone else fighting for the scraps. I seriously think the usual cadre of teams are going to find themselves threatened by teams looking for future glory.
Today’s game will go a long way to determining what happens when the national semifinals commence in Foxboro in three months’ time.