CALIFORNIA-SYRACUSE LACROSSE HISTORY
— Syracuse leads the all-time series, 3-0.
— The Orange was an 18-6 winner the lone time the teams played in an Atlantic Coast Conference game in Berkeley last April. Three Cal players on the 2026 squad – Avery Hoeft, Emily Moes and Courtney Wong – had one goal apiece in the contest.
— Syracuse won the first time the teams met – and also the only time they have played in Syracuse  – a 17-9 Orange win in 2004. Syracuse also registered an 18-2 win in Berkeley in 2009. 4 Both were nonconference games.

LAST TIME OUT: DUKE 16, CAL 7 (FEB. 28, 2026)
— Cal suffered a 16-7 loss in its most recent contest in an ACC tilt at No. 23 Duke (4-2, 1-1 ACC). The Blue Devils scored the game's first four goals and the Golden Bears would never get any closer than three the rest of the way. Cal's best stretch came late in the third period when the Bears scored four of the final five goals of the frame to pull within 12-7 heading into the final 15 minutes. But Cal would not score in the fourth while the Blue Devils found the back of the net four times for the final margin. Cal's leading scorer Courtney Wong finished with three goals while Ardyn Henry netted two. Avery Hoeft added one goal and two assists and Jane Middleton also scored a goal.

BEST START SINCE 2018
— Cal's 3-3 record is its best through six contests since the 2018 team began with a 4-2 mark. The 2023 squad had the best start in school history at 8-1.

NONCONFERENCE SUCCESS
— Cal has an 8-3 record in nonconference games over the last two seasons since joining the ACC prior to the 2025 campaign, posting a 6-1 mark in 2025 and a 2-2 record through its first four nonconference contests of 2026.

SCHEDULE SHIFT
— Cal played its first five games of the 2026 regular season against unranked opponents but starting with its most recent game against No. 23 Duke will play seven of its final 12 regular-season contests against teams currently ranked in the IWLCA Division I Coaches Poll. Tuesday's game at No. 15 Syracuse is the next in the stretch followed by home contests against No. 10 Boston College (March 7) and No. 1 North Carolina (March 12), a trip to No. 6 Notre Dame (March 28), a visit from No. 11 Clemson (April 3) and the regular-season finale at No. 2 Stanford (April 16). All seven currently ranked teams on Cal's 2026 schedule played in the 16-team NCAA Championship in 2025, with North Carolina winning the national championship and Boston College reaching the semifinals.

CLOSE GAMES
— Three of Cal's first six games in 2026 have been decided by a single goal with the Bears winning each of its first two at San Diego State (13-12) and at home against Florida State (10-9) before falling 13-12 to UC Davis.

WONG LEADS FOUR IN DOUBLE-DIGIT POINTS THROUGH SIX GAMES
— Courtney Wong (26 points – 13 goals, 13 assists) is Cal's leader in goals, assists and points through six games of the 2026 campaign. Wong is among a group of four Golden Bears that also includes Emily Moes (16 points – 12 goals, 4 assists), Josie Lillquist (12 points – 9 goals, 3 assists) and Avery Hoeft (11 points – 5 goals, 6 assists) who are in double-figure points for the season.

SAME STARTERS
— Cal has had the same starting lineup in each of its first six games in 2026 with the group including attackers Josie Lillquist, Ashleigh Masterson, Emily Moes and Courtney Wong; midfielders Katie Bloomer, Annette Ciupek and Willow Cyr; defenders Kennedy Herndon, Grace Kerr, Clara Page and Ari Tavoso; and goalkeeper Lulu Murphy.

THE DRAW CIRCLE
— Cal has received most of its production in the draw circle this season from the trio of Courtney Wong (30 draw controls), Ashleigh Masterson (24) and Grace Kerr (13).

PAGE LEADING THE DEFENSE
— Clara Page has led the defense through the first six games with 30 ground balls and a team-high-tying eight caused turnovers along with Kennedy Herndon.

LULU MURPHY TIED FOR NATIONAL LEAD AMONG FRESHMEN IN SAVES
— Lulu Murphy is tied the nation's lead among freshman goalkeepers with 44 saves through her first six games. Murphy is the first freshman to serve as Cal's primary starter in goal since Jenny Wilkens in 2016. Lily Rathbun also saw just over half of the team's action in the net as a 2021 freshman.

DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT
— Cal is allowing 12.5 goals per game through the first six games of 2026, which is down from a season average of 14.0 per contest in 2025. Cal allowed just nine goals in each contest in back-to-back wins against Florida State and at Oregon.

WEATHER FORECAST
— The AccuWeather forecast for Syracuse on Tuesday at first draw calls for intermittent clouds, a 7% chance of precipitation, a temperature of 46 degrees, and no wind.
— Even though a high of 46 degrees on March 3 in Syracuse is eight degrees warmer than average for that day, it will even be much warmer because the Orange play indoors at the JMA Wireless Dome.
— The differences in weather during two back-to-back road games earlier this season was dramatic. On Feb. 8 at USC in Los Angeles, it was 81 degrees under sunny skies at first draw before dropping 40 degrees to 41 in Eugene, Oregon, 11 days later on Feb. 19.

HEAD COACH JENNIFER WONG
— Jennifer Wong is in her fourth season as the Cal lacrosse head coach in 2026. In each of her first three campaigns with the Golden Bears, Wong's team has posted a better record than in the previous season.
— Wong is the only head coach in Cal lacrosse history to have won the season-opener in each of her first four campaigns.
— Wong led Cal to its first-ever ACC win this season with a 10-9 victory over Florida State on Feb. 13.
— Wong was named Cal's head coach on Aug. 30, 2022, following a long and successful coaching tenure on the staff at Temple, where she spent 14 campaigns during two stints from 2008-09 and 2011-22.

THE ROAD AHEAD
— Cal's current two-game road trip at Duke (Feb. 28) and Syracuse (Mar, 3) is its third of four trips outside the Bay Area during the 2026 regular-season. Cal's visits to San Diego State/USC (Feb. 6-8) and Oregon (Feb. 19) are already in the books, while the team's final regular-season road trip out of the Bay Area is a three-game, nine-day journey Mar. 21-28 at Louisville (Mar. 21), Xavier (Mar. 24) and Notre Dame (Mar. 28). Cal also has a trip across the Bay for the regular-season finale at Stanford on Apr. 16.

LONG TRIPS TO BERKELEY
— Cal is scheduled to host eight games at California Memorial Stadium in 2026 with seven teams visiting from more than 2,500 miles away. UC Davis is the only opponent of the eight in the Pacific Time Zone and just over 60 miles away.

HOMETOWN HERO
— Cal freshman Meaghan Lynch is the Golden Bears' lone freshman from the state of New York. Her prep squad at Garden City High School won the Nassau County title in each of her four prep seasons (2022-25), as well as the Long Island title in each of her final three.

A LITTLE MORE
— Syracuse is the only collegiate women's lacrosse team to have an indoor facility serve as their primary venue for home games. Other schools play or have played indoor home games on occasion.