Coach Gary Gait has the Syracuse Orange just two wins away from being crowned national champions.

Fourteen years ago, when coach Gait took over the women's lacrosse program, he found a team searching for an identity. On Monday, coach met with the national media and noted that when he took over the program, he asked every player on the roster "if they were recruited to play for a national championship."

In his words, they all said no.

"I knew right there we needed to change the culture, and we've done that," he said. "This will be our eighth final four in the 14 years here."

It's this consistency that makes the Orange dangerous. It also makes them one of the top teams in the entire country. On Friday, they'll be pitted against another historically good program, in Northwestern. The Wildcats also happen to be very familiar with SU. Since 2006, Northwestern and Syracuse have met every year, with most games happening during the regular season. As fate would have it, despite Northwestern playing a BIG10 only schedule this year due to COVID-19 regulations, the Orange and Wildcats found a way to meet again. 

But the linkage between the two teams expands beyond the consistent matchups. It goes off the field. Wildcats head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller is a former player of Gary Gait.

"I have great respect and admiration for Coach Gait," Hiller said. "We've played each other in the elite eight in 2019 and beat them and that hurt them. The next year, Syracuse came to us and got us. I expect it to be a battle.'

Both coaches expect Friday's game to be a familiar drawn out battle with the winner one step closer to winning the coveted national championship.