Syracuse earned the No. 4 overall seed in the NCAA tournament. It was announced in Sunday night’s NCAA women’s lacrosse championship selection show.

The winner between Boston College and Dartmouth’s Friday matchup will face SU on Sunday at 3 p.m. at SU Soccer Stadium.

As the host of the region, the Orange (16-3, 8-0 Big East) receives a first-round bye. This is the first year of the NCAA tournament’s expansion from 16 to 26 teams. The top eight seeds host the first- and second-round games and the first six seeds receive byes.

This fourth seed matches the best in program history in Syracuse’s 11th trip to the NCAA tournament.

SU played Boston College on March 27 and beat the Eagles, 17-12.

If the Orange advances to the quarterfinals, it will play Denver, Jacksonville or No.5-seeded Florida with a trip to the final four on the line. Against the Gators in last year’s final four, Syracuse came back from a seven-goal deficit to advance to the national championship.

Syracuse is looking to bring home the program’s first-ever national championship.

Despite losing senior attack Michelle Tumolo to a torn ACL on April 16, the Orange has won 11 consecutive games, including the Big East regular-season championship and the conference tournament title against Georgetown on Saturday.

The Orange has already faced four of the top six teams in this year’s NCAA tournament. SU lost to top-seeded Maryland, No. 2-seed Northwestern and the Gators, but defeated the sixth-seeded Hoyas twice.

Published on May 5, 2013 at 10:18 pm

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb