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

There’s still some non-conference fun to be had — Duke at St. Joe’s, anyone? — but we’ve also reached the stretch of the season when league games matter most.

And there are quite a few big ones in the Patriot League, Ivy League and Big Ten this weekend.

Here’s one sentence each on 13 games to watch. It’s a front-loaded slate, but the linear TV gods have intervened, allowing couch-bound binge watchers to consume the entirety of five games airing on either ESPNU or the Big Ten Network.

All times Eastern.

TV LISTINGS | NIKE/USA LACROSSE TOP 20

No. 9 Loyola (5-2) at No. 8 Army (6-1) – Saturday, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)  

Army is on some kind of heater right now, winning six straight games since its season-opening loss at UMass, with Christian Fournier (16 caused turnovers) playing the role of disruptor on the nation’s third-ranked defensive unit (8.43 goals allowed per game).

No. 2 Duke (8-1) at No. 20 Saint Joseph’s (4-3) – Saturday, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)

Faceoff fans, get your popcorn for Jake Naso (65.6 percent) vs. Zach Cole (69.6 percent), who rank fourth and first, respectively, in win percentage in Division I.

UPSET ALERT
No. 17 Boston University (6-1) at Lafayette (4-5) – Saturday, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)

The Leopards, who have not won five games in a season since 2010, have momentum after defeating Colgate in overtime last week.

GAME OF THE WEEK
No. 4 Virginia (6-1) at No. 1 Notre Dame (6-0) – Saturday, 12 p.m. (ESPNU)

If you thought Klöckner was crazy last week, wait till you see the scene at Arlotta, where they’re giving out free food, a free t-shirt and free admission to this top-five clash of NCAA championship contenders.

Lehigh (5-2) at No. 19 Georgetown (3-3) – Saturday, 12 p.m. (FloSports)

Here come the Hoyas, a preseason darling that has worked its way back from an 0-3 start and earned a spot in this week’s rankings.

Hobart (4-3) at Syracuse (4-4) – Saturday, 1 p.m. (ACCNX)

The rivalry is rather one-sided, as the Orange are 9-1 in the last 10 meetings and 33-2 in the series dating back to the 1980s.

Brown (3-3) at UMass (4-3) – Saturday, 1 p.m. (ESPN+)

UMass will be in most games thanks to the tandem of goalie Matt Knote (8.71 GAA, 63.2 SV%) and defenseman Chris Campbell, but the Minutemen will need to produce against a Bears team that’s eager to avenge a 10-7 loss to UMass last year.

No. 13 Yale (3-2) at Princeton (2-4) – Saturday, 1 p.m. (ESPN+)

Matt Brandau had five goals and three assists in Yale’s regular-season win over Princeton but was limited to just one-and-one in the Bulldogs’ NCAA quarterfinal loss to their Ivy League rival.

Harvard (3-2) at Dartmouth (5-1) – Saturday, 4 p.m. (ESPN+)

Dartmouth is off to its best start since 2004 against a soft early-season schedule — the 25-7 loss at North Carolina notwithstanding — but can prove its mettle in its Ivy League opener.

No. 12 Penn State (5-2) at No. 3 Maryland (5-2) – Saturday, 5 p.m. (Big Ten Network)

Stunned by Marquette last week on Long Island, Penn State should be laser-focused for this Big Ten tilt in College Park, where the Terps could be at risk of a letdown following their OT triumph at Virginia.  (Three Saves in Seven Seconds)

No. 10 Johns Hopkins (7-3) at Michigan (4-3) – Saturday, 7 p.m. (Big Ten Network)

Hopkins quietly has assembled an impressive resume that includes wins over Jacksonville, Georgetown, Saint Joseph’s, Syracuse and Delaware — not a murderer’s row this year, necessarily, but a good non-conference slate nonetheless.

No. 16 Penn (3-3) at No. 6 Cornell (5-1) – Sunday, 12 p.m. (ESPNU)

Cornell flat-out bullied Yale in what seemed like a visceral response to a frustrating loss the previous week to Penn State, while Penn’s Sam Handley is rediscovering his clutch gene with OT winners in two of the last three games.

No. 5 Rutgers (7-1) at No. 18 Ohio State (4-4) – Sunday, 7 p.m. (Big Ten Network)

Dante Kulas is a candidate for breakthrough player of the year with a career-high 22 goals for the Scarlet Knights, who have won five straight games and whose nonconference resume includes victories over Loyola, Princeton and UMass.