Both the ACC and MPSF tournaments kick off today with the opening draw for each league's first quarterfinal at 11 a.m. and 12 p.m., respectively.

The conference tournament winners will earn automatic-qualifying (AQ) bids to the NCAA tournament, which will field 26 teams, 13 selected through AQs and 13 selected by the selection committee through at-large bids. 

ACC Tournament: Nice To See You Again

Five days after finishing the regular season with a 19-7 win over Duke, No. 2 ranked North Carolina will meet their Tobacco Road rivals again 11 a.m. Thursday in Richmond, Va.

It’s the start of the ACC Lacrosse Championship quarterfinals, and the stakes are doubled for Duke, which must win Thursday to move above .500 for NCAA tournament consideration. If Duke loses, its third longest streak of reaching the NCAA tournament will end at 19 seasons. UNC is defending champion and looked refocused while bouncing back from a loss to Syracuse to stifle Duke on Saturday.

The ACC tournament quarterfinal that follows at 2 p.m. is another rematch with No. 14 Boston College trying to duplicate its 16-10 win over No. 15 Notre Dame from Saturday. The Eagles have been up and down this year, and it was much the same in the game. They trailed at halftime before exploding for 11 second-half goals against Notre Dame, which has had its own ups and downs. The Fighting Irish started the season 8-1 but have lost five of their final eight games.

The third game at 5 p.m. pits second-seeded Syracuse against seventh-seeded Virginia Tech. When they met two and a half weeks ago, the Orange needed overtime just to win at the Carrier Dome. Syracuse seems to have righted the ship by winning five straight games after dropping four out of five games midway through the season, but then they showed vulnerability in a loss at Louisville on Saturday. Virginia Tech has cooled off considerably with five straight losses, though two of them are in overtime and they lost by a goal to Virginia on Saturday.

The final game of the first day of the ACC tournament features No. 3 seed Virginia vs. No. 6 seed Louisville at approximately 8 p.m. UVA won, 11-9, when these teams met 12 days earlier. That win is still fresh in the minds of Virginia, which won two tight games down the stretch. Louisville had lost three out of four before upsetting Syracuse on Saturday, 9-8, for a big lift heading into the tournament.

Quarterfinal winners meet Friday with the finals slated for Sunday. North Carolina is the defending champion, but nothing is a given. Every team is capable of being upset. During the regular season, UNC lost to Syracuse, who lost to Louisville, who lost to Notre Dame, who lost to Virginia, who lost to Boston College, who lost to Duke, who lost to every ACC team but Boston College.

Regular-season outcomes were not accurate predictors in last year’s ACC tournament when twice rematch results were flipped. Notre Dame beat a Louisville team it had lost to in the regular season. Syracuse crushed a Boston College team it had lost to in the regular season. 

Final MPSF Tournament: USC Favored To Repeat

Top-seeded USC will host the MPSF tournament that begins Thursday, and that makes them as much of a favorite as anything. The Trojans have won 23 straight games at home, won their last eight games and are the defending MPSF tournament champions.

USC and second-seeded Colorado both have first-round byes and appear to be on a collision course for the championship game, though third-seeded Stanford is looking to play spoiler. Stanford needs to win the MPSF title to get into the NCAA tournament with the winner receiving the MPSF’s automatic qualifier.

The Cardinal coach Amy Bokker sees her team’s chances resting on its ability to make defensive stops, limit turnovers and win the draw control. Stanford lost, 13-8, to Colorado and 15-12 to USC during the regular season. Against Colorado, they trailed early 6-1, never fully recovered, turned it over 23 times and lost the draw control, 13-10. Against USC, they turned it over 14 times but stayed within striking distance until a five-goal run by the Trojans.

When USC met Colorado on Apr. 14, the Trojans trailed 5-4 at halftime but made it a decisive 12-5 win with a 7-0 second-half thanks to an 11-5 advantage in ground balls and a 14-6 shot advantage. Colorado built its first-half lead by causing six turnovers and it connected on two of four free positions. In the second half, it went 0-for-4.

“We need to be disciplined in the little things all over the field,” Colorado coach Ann Elliott said. “And we need to be mentally tougher. Defensively we need to play as a team and stick to our game plan for 60 minutes. Offensively we have to be aggressive and communicate. We have to make plays.”

The tournament begins with Stanford playing No. 6 seed California, then No. 4 seed Oregon taking on No. 5 seed San Diego State. Action continues with the semifinals Friday with USC getting the Oregon-San Diego State winner then Colorado playing the Stanford-California winner. The championship is Sunday at 4 p.m.

It will be the final MPSF tournament before California, Colorado, Oregon, Stanford and USC join the Pac-10 in 2018 along with start-up Arizona State.

GAMES TO WATCH

Here are some key games to keep an eye on this weekend (all times Eastern):

No. 4 Stony Brook at Hofstra, Friday, 7 p.m.

Stony Brook looks for its 10^th straight win against its Long Island rival, while Hofstra is looking for its second Top 20 upset in two weeks. The Pride stopped No. 18 Towson.

Johns Hopkins at No. 18 Towson, Saturday, 12 p.m.

Both teams look for momentum in regular-season finales. Towson has clinched the No. 2 seed for the CAA tournament, and Hopkins will be the fourth seed in the Big Ten tournament if it tops Rutgers on Thursday.

Georgetown at No. 3 Florida, Saturday, 1 p.m.

Georgetown quietly has won five straight games after a 4-7 start. If it can knock off Florida, it would share the Big East regular-season title with the Gators and earn the top seed for their conference tournament.

Harvard at No. 11 Cornell, Saturday, 1 p.m.

Both teams are in the Ivy League tournament, but this game helps decide the host. If Cornell and Penn (vs. Yale on Sunday) both win, Cornell will play host. A Cornell loss opens the door to Penn and Princeton.

Delaware at Drexel, Saturday, 1 p.m.

It’s a matchup to determine the final team in the CAA tournament. Delaware became the first CAA team to knock off James Madison this year. Drexel has lost three out of four but could still get in with a win.