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Syracuse women’s lacrosse attack Emma Ward will return for her fifth and final season with the Orange, she announced Friday.

𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗡𝗼. 4️⃣4️⃣

Welcome back @Emmaward__ pic.twitter.com/aDWWnXhgLb

— Syracuse Women's Lacrosse (@CuseWLAX) August 9, 2024

In three active seasons with the Orange, Ward has totaled 248 points, including 125 goals and 123 assists. Ward missed her sophomore season in 2022 due to a Grade 3 turf toe and a complete rupture of the plantar plate in her right foot. She returned to action in 2023 and put up career highs in assists (56) and points (94).

A year later, as a senior, she showed off her scoring prowess with a career-high 44 goals. The finest outing of her SU career came in the 2024 national quarterfinal versus Yale, where Ward totaled a career-high four assists and seven points in a game.

In all three seasons Ward has played at SU, the Orange have reached at least the Final Four, while reaching the national championship in 2021. Ward’s return is pivotal to Syracuse’s title chances in 2025 as it will lose 8-of-12 starters due to graduation.

Because of the 2022 injury, Ward had one year of eligibility remaining, giving her a difficult decision to make following graduating in the spring. After her performance against Yale in the national quarterfinal, Ward even hinted at it being the final stop in her SU career.

“It’s just so nice to be able to like end the way it started kinda,” Ward said while describing what was thought to be her final game in the JMA Wireless Dome.

With Ward returning to the mix, she will be the face of the Orange attack alongside senior Olivia Adamson and rising sophomores Alexa Vogelman and Ashlee Volpe, who both missed their freshman season with injuries.

Published on August 9, 2024 at 6:28 pm

Contact Aiden at: amstepan@syr.edu | @AidenStepansky