Weekend One-Liners: What to Watch for in Men's Lacrosse

A pair of top-10 clashes headline the Saturday slate in college men’s lacrosse — an NCAA semifinal rematch between No. 9 Maryland and No. 3 Princeton and a neutral-site encounter between No. 8 Ohio State and No. 1 Virginia.

Regarding the latter, I asked Buckeyes coach Nick Myers on Thursday about Ohio State’s preference to cut the field in half and play 6-on-6 rather than get into a full-field slugfest with the Cavaliers.

Virginia scored (checks notes) 20 goals in the first half against Harvard last week but had to hold on late for a 25-21 victory. Ohio State won a very different game against North Carolina, grinding out an 8-5 victory behind a disciplined defense that limited the Tar Heels to just 5-of-42 (12 percent) shooting.

“What’s it going to take to be within striking distance with 8-10 minutes on the clock? That’s the position we want to be in,” Myers said. “You’ve got to be careful you don’t let that first tidal wave hit you.”

Myers estimated the Buckeyes needed to get to 15 goals to beat the Cavaliers, which means operating at peak efficiency in the half-field and capitalize on transition and man-up opportunities. Ohio State is missing injured starters Colby Smith (41 goals last year) and Ari Allen. They do have what’s shaping up as one of the best close defense units in the country with Bobby Van Buren, Marcus Hudgins and Jacob Snyder fronting goalie Skylar Wahlund (12 saves against UNC).

The Buckeyes need to get their defensive personnel on the field. Virginia could try to exploit that with creativity in the substitution game or keeping its two-way middies on the field for extended runs.

“I don’t know that it’s going to be an 8-5 game Saturday night,” Myers said. “We need to do a much better job than we did last week.”

Check out our updated TV listings. All times Eastern. Rankings per the Nike/USA Lacrosse Top 20.

No. 5 Notre Dame (2-0) at No. 18 Georgetown (0-2) – Saturday, 12 p.m. (FloSports)

The Flying Kavanaghs, er, Fighting Irish face a stiff test in a Hoyas team for whom this amounts to something of a must-win after season-opening losses to Johns Hopkins and Penn.

UPSET WATCH

Lehigh (2-0) at No. 2 Cornell (1-0) – Saturday, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)

CJ Kirst picked up where he left off with six goals in the Big Red’s season-opening win over Albany, but the Mountain Hawks possess the ultimate X-factor in perennial All-American faceoff specialist Mike Sisselberger.

Utah (1-2) at No. 17 Johns Hopkins (2-2) – Saturday, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)

Pay attention to the status of injured attackmen Jacob Angelus and Russell Melendez, as the Blue Jays were not nearly the same team without them against Loyola.

Penn State at No. 6 Yale (1-0) – Saturday, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)

If their 20-14 season-opening win over Villanova was any indication, the Bulldogs are set at attack (Chris Lyon, Matt Brandau and Leo Johnson combined for 22 points), will feature dynamic two-way middies and U.S. U21 players Jack Monfort and Patrick Hackler and are in capable hands with U.S. U21 goalie Jared Paquette (18 saves).

Merrimack (3-1) at Denver (1-2) – Saturday, 1 p.m. (Pioneers All-Access)

Bill Tierney’s farewell season is off to an inauspicious start and Merrimack would be undefeated were it not for a fourth-quarter dud against Dartmouth.

Drexel (1-1) at Albany (0-2) – Saturday, 1 p.m. (ESPN+)

Annually a must-watch affair, 13 of 20 games in the series have been decided by three goals or fewer.

No. 13 Duke (3-1) at No. 7 Penn (1-0) – Saturday, 1 p.m. (ESPN+)

Cam Rubin (four goals) and Emmet Carroll (18 saves) starred in the Quakers’ season-opening win over Georgetown, showing they don’t always need Sam Handley and Dylan Gergar to carry the mail

No. 4 Loyola (2-0) at No. 16 Rutgers (2-1) – Saturday, 1 p.m. (BTN+)

The last time these two teams faced each other in Piscataway, Pat Spencer went airborne and delivered one of the most memorable goals of the last decade.

GAME OF THE WEEK

No. 9 Maryland (2-1) at No. 3 Princeton (2-0) – Saturday, 1 p.m. (ESPN+)

Maryland is mortal — and might have lost to Syracuse were it not for the possession imbalance created by Luke Weirman (24-for-31) — and Princeton is eager to avenge last year’s NCAA semifinal defeat.

No. 11 North Carolina (2-1) at Syracuse (3-1) – Saturday, 3 p.m. (ESPN+)

It’s officially ACC season and the first of two clashes between the teams this season due to the unbalanced conference schedule.

Boston University (1-1) at No. 14 UMass (2-0) – Saturday, 3:15 p.m.

BU got back to its disruptive ways with 17 caused turnovers in a 16-15 overtime win at Bryant and defeated UMass 16-7 last year.

No. 8 Ohio State (3-0) vs. No. 1 Virginia (2-0) – Saturday, 7 p.m. (BTN+)

Virginia's games have averaged a combined 38 goals this year while Ohio State's have averaged 22 — which style will prevail in Naples, Fla.?

Villanova (1-1) at No. 10 Delaware (3-0) – Sunday, 12 p.m. (Lacrosse TV)

Nova has its hands full with the attack duo of JP Ward (8G, 9A) and Tye Kurtz (13G, 3A), who account for nearly half the Blue Hens’ offensive production.