The search for the first win of the season continues for the now-No. 15 Syracuse Orange as they return home to host the No. 13 Loyola Greyhounds for our first mid-week clash of the year.
Opening draw is set for 5 PM on ACC Network Extra.
Loyola has gotten off to a 2-2 start this season against tough competition. They’ve lost to Johns Hopkins and Florida, both of whom are currently ranked in the Top 10, and have
wins over Lehigh and Princeton, who came in just behind SU this week at No. 16.
Lots to replace
Loyola and Syracuse actually have quite a bit in common at the moment with where they are as programs. Both are perennially highly-ranked teams with lots of high-end talent running the show. But both currently find themselves in periods of transition as they look for new star power to take over in the wake of a few years in a row of significant graduation losses.
Much like how the Orange are looking to replace lots of girls named Meg and Emma, this is a very different version of Loyola than we’ve seen in recent years as all of their biggest stars who have defined the first half of this decade have now moved on. There’s no more Georgia Latch, Chase Boyle, Sydni Black or Jillian Wilson. There’s no Lily Osborne or Katie Detwiler running the defense. Three-year starter Lauren Spence no longer stands between the pipes.
Key Returners
Last year’s Loyola team had seven players score 30 points or more, and four of them are back. The caveat there is that two of those not returning were Latch and Boyle, who were by far their two most productive players as Latch finished last year with an incredible 127 points and Boyle had 85 of her own.
Last year’s third-leading scorer was now-senior midfielder Elisa Faklaris, who scored 51 goals last year and is off to a good start with 12 goals so far this season. Mim Suares-Jury is coming off a very strong freshman campaign with 26 goals and 37 points and has 10 goals and 12 points so far. The duo both had solid games against SU last year, with each scoring two goals apiece and Suares-Jury adding an assist on top.
Morgan Quade and Lauren Perfetto join Suares-Jury as super-sophomores helping to lead the team. Quade is off to a great start with 10 points, which already out-strips her season total of seven last year as a freshman. Likewise, Perfetto had three points as a freshman and already has eight.
Emma Talago and Ava Kane bring the veteran presence alongside Faklaris as all three are seniors. Talago was second on the team with 21 assists last year, while Kane contributed with 25 goals. They have nine and eight points, respectively, through four games in 2026.
Draw dominance
One thing that is sure to stay the same is the strength of Loyola’s draw control unit. They’ve had some tremendous draw takers in recent years, most notably Wilson and Boyle, but it doesn’t much appear to matter for the Greyhounds.
Last year, Boyle, Latch and Osborne combined for a staggering 381 of their 405 draw wins. That’s 94 percent of their draws gone to graduation, but they’ve barely missed a step.
This year’s draw unit is second in the country in both draw control percentage (74.3 percent) and draw controls per game (21.00). They hold an 84-29 advantage over their opponents on draw wins, and freshman Mae Murphy is the star that makes it go. Murphy has 56 draws already this season in just four games, which is also good for second-best in the country at 14.00 per game.
Molly Guzik and co. will have their hands full just keeping pace in the all important draw battle.
Goalie questions
Replacing a three-year starter with 63 career starts and a .483 career save percentage was always going to be difficult.
Junior Kennedy Buntrock has stepped in for Lauren Spence, and she’s off to a tough start against what has been a difficult schedule. She’s only made 17 total saves so far, no more than five in a single game, and has a 13.96 GAA and a .283 save percentage.
There could be some possibility there for the Orange to score in this game provided they can get enough possessions to do that damage.
