NCAA Men's Lacrosse Week 4: All Eyes on A-Town for Game of the Year

Schedule | TV Listings | Rankings

One hundred and one years ago, Dr. JB Crenshaw started a lacrosse team at Georgia Tech.

A distinguished faculty member who had played the sport at Johns Hopkins, Crenshaw created a varsity program that played the likes of Syracuse, Virginia, Hopkins, Maryland and Penn before it folded during the Great Depression.

In fact, Syracuse played Georgia Tech in what is now Bobby Dodd Stadium in 1927. Resurrected as a club team decades later, the Yellow Jackets also played Duke there in 1983 and occasionally hosted other schools at the historic college football venue in downtown Atlanta.

On Saturday, the fastest sport on two feet returns to Bobby Dodd for — as fate would have it — the most anticipated college lacrosse game of the year.

All eyes are on A-Town, where No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 Maryland will square off in an NCAA championship rematch (1 p.m. EST, ACC Network). Event organizer 285 Lacrosse expects a crowd of nearly 10,000 fans to attend the game. The club sections reserved for each of the teams are sold out.

Both squads boast hometown talent, most notably Terps star Braden Erska, who graduated from Lassiter High School in Marietta, Ga.

The Atlanta Lacrosse Invitational will also feature a game between two of the top high school teams in Georgia (Milton vs. Lambert at 9 a.m. EST) and a second NCAA Division I contest pitting Mercer against Drexel (4 p.m. EST).

Also this weekend, a pair of Ivy League powers are in North Carolina for a two-game tour. No. 12 Penn plays at No. 4 North Carolina and No. 6 Princeton at No. 5 Duke on Friday, with the two teams swapping dance partners Sunday.

FIVE TO WATCH

#12 PENN (2-1) AT #4 NORTH CAROLINA (3-0)

Fri 5 p.m. EST | Watch: ACCNX | DK: UNC -3

Penn storyline to watch: Is Emmet Carroll even better than Liam Entenmann? It's a bold take, but statistically speaking Carroll was the superior goalie last year and so far has picked up right where he left off. Through three games he has a 67.3 save percentage and a scant 5.75 goals against average. Carroll displayed next-level mastery against Delaware, allowing just one goal and making 14 saves in a 10-2 victory.

North Carolina storyline to watch: Secondary scorers. Penn is too good defensively to allow Dominic Pietramala (six goals on 15 shots) and Owen Duffy (four goals on 16 shots) to run wild the way they did at Hopkins. Pietramala and Duffy account for 62 percent of scoring and 53 percent of shots. That's unsustainable. Ty English has adapted well in the move from defensive to offensive midfield, Ryan Levy capitalized on inverts against the Blue Jays and third attackman James Matan is pound-for-pound one of the strongest players on the team. Freshman Caden Harshbarger has a high ceiling. It's time for others to eat.

Bold prediction: A week after his emotional six-goal outburst against Hopkins, Pietramala goes scoreless — that is, assuming the lefty draws righty defenseman Brendan Lavelle, who memorably made Brennan O'Neill go 1-for-8 with two turnovers on the front end of this same double-dip last year at Duke.

#6 PRINCETON (1-1) AT #5 DUKE (4-0)

Fri 6 p.m. EST | Watch: ACCN | DK: Duke -1.5

Princeton storyline to watch: Andrew McMeekin's struggles. The All-Ivy faceoff man is just 15-for-43 (34.9 percent) and notably scoreless after taking it to the house eight times last year. That won't do. His counterpart, Duke freshman Ben McCarthy, is at 58 percent. 

Duke storyline to watch: How an unheralded but so far stout defense holds up against one of the most dynamic offensive units in the country. The Blue Devils have yet to allow an opponent to reach double figures. Defenseman Charlie Johnson has been a revelation. He leads the team with 11 caused turnovers. Long-stick midfielder Mac Christmas has as many goals (four) as starting attackman Liam Kershis. Aidan Maguire (17 ground balls, nine caused turnovers) and Jack Gray (seven ground balls, six caused turnovers) might be the best short-stick d-middie tandem in Division I. They'll collectively deal with their stiffest challenge of the season against Princeton's attack tandem of Coulter Mackesy and Nate Kabiri as well as midfielders Chad Palumbo and Tucker Wade, who have yet to get untracked this season.

Bold prediction: First team to 10 wins. A betting person might take the under on DraftKings' 23.5 total. Both teams can score, no question. But many of their strengths counter each other. It just feels like a lower-scoring affair on tap in Durham.

Q-Collar Game of the Week

#1 NOTRE DAME (3-0) vs #2 MARYLAND (4-0)

Sat 1 p.m. EST | Watch: ACCN | DK: Notre Dame -2

Notre Dame storyline to watch:  The Fighting Irish were not particularly crisp in their first true test against Georgetown but got the job done. They committed 20 turnovers and just two of their 11 goals were assisted. The Terps, who continue to play as error-free as any team in Division I lacrosse, have to be licking their chops. That said, Notre Dame's midfield has yet to reach full stride with Jordan Faison rounding into form after playing football and Devon McLane due for a breakout.

Maryland storyline to watch: How will the Terps game plan for Chris Kavanagh? The prudent approach seems to be to force him to be one-dimensional as a scorer and not allow him to distribute. Acknowledge he will get his three to four goals but make someone else on Notre Dame beat you off the dribble.

Bold prediction: Erska scores in overtime to lift Maryland to a 13-12 victory, the hometown hero delivering some sweet redemption at Bobby Dodd.

#9 PENN STATE (3-1) AT YALE (0-2)

Sat 12 p.m. EST | Watch: ESPN+ | DK: Penn State -3

Penn State storyline to watch: Freshman midfielder Hunter Aquino did not generate much buzz as a recruit and Alex Ross does not often get mentioned among the top defensemen but both are playing at an All-American level. Aquino has seven goals on 64-percent shooting. Absurd efficiency. And Ross is as good an eraser as any in the country. Expect Kevin Parnham and him to excel against a Yale offense that looks out of sorts so far. The Nittany Lions had 15 caused turnovers in their win over Navy.

Yale storyline to watch: About that offense. Eek. The Bulldogs currently rank 74th out of 77 Division I teams in offensive efficiency (18.4 percent) according to Lacrosse Reference. They have nearly three times as many turnovers (39) as they do goals (14) through two games. Leo Johnson, Chris Lyons, Max Krevsky, David Anderson — these guys are All-American-caliber players who are simply out of sync. Shows how much Matt Brandau mattered.

Bold prediction: Yale wins in overtime. Andy Shay is too good of a coach and the Bulldogs have built too strong of a pedigree to fall into an 0-3 hole to start the season. Home field advantage helps.

#19 VIRGINIA (2-2) AT #7 JOHNS HOPKINS (4-1)

Sat 12 p.m. EST | Watch: ESPNU | DK: Hopkins -2

Virginia storyline to watch: Two questions: Is McCabe Millon injured and can the Cavaliers gets something, anything out of their midfield? Millon sustained a nasty high hit toward the end of the game against Ohio State and had to be helped off the field. Virginia midfielders combined to shoot 1-for-13 in the 14-5 loss. (Millon was 0-for-10 before exiting the game.)

Hopkins storyline to watch: Midfielder Matt Collison came up big in the Blue Jays' win over the Cavaliers at Klockner Stadium in the regular season last year and could be the recipient of the Ben Wayer treatment. That matchup will be fun to watch.

Bold prediction: If Millon sits, Scott Smith and Quintan Kilrain stifle Ryan Colsey and Truitt Sunderland, Virginia's midfield woes continue and Hopkins wins by at least seven goals.