All eyes will be on the faceoff X when defending national champion Yale and upstart Penn State square off in New Haven, Conn., on Saturday.

Yale, ranked sixth in the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Men’s Top 20, somehow became stronger in the offseason, adding former Albany star TD Ierlan. Penn State, ranked second this week, counters Ierlan with Gerard Arceri, who won 68.1 percent of faceoffs last season.

These teams have opened in a drastically different fashion, as Yale dropped an overtime heartbreaker to Villanova, while Penn State has opened with three easy wins — including a 17-7 drubbing of Nova.

NO. 2 PENN STATE AT NO. 6 YALE
WHEN: Saturday,  Feb. 23, 1 p.m.
WATCH: ESPN+

Ierlan and Arceri have never gone head-to-head at the collegiate level, and the two former Tewaaraton nominees should dictate the outcome of this marquee early season matchup. Ierlan, of course, set Division I records for faceoff percentage (79.1), faceoff wins (359) and ground balls (254) during his breakout season with the Great Danes.

Ierlan’s debut went as expected, as he won 18 of 25 faceoffs in the loss to Villanova. Arceri has been even better. Seemingly healthy after coping with a hamstring injury for much of 2018, he has gone 29-for-39 (79.6 percent) in Penn State’s three games. The Nittany Lions have kept Arceri fresh by mixing in a capable backup in Jake Glatz.

Overcoming Ierlan will be key for Arceri and the Nittany Lions to get the ball to the offense, led by Grant Ament, who redshirted last year. He’s picked up from where he left off after tallying 60 points in 2017, already compiling five goals and 17 assists through just three games. Junior Mac O’Keefe is coming off a seven-goal game against Stony Brook, and he’s another attackman to monitor.

Other games to watch this weekend include:

• No. 9 Virginia at No. 19 Princeton
  Saturday, Noon, ESPN+

Coming off a 14-13 loss to High Point, Virginia has dropped to 1-2. Its ACC schedule is so rigorous that it needs to pick up those quality non-conference wins, and there’s an opportunity this week to beat a ranked opponent in Princeton. Virginia’s offense is scoring just 11 goals per game, while Princeton opened its season with 23 goals in a win over Monmouth. Matt Moore, Dox Aitken and Ian Laviano have each netted seven goals for the Cavaliers, and they’ll need to step up to get Virginia back on track.

• No. 1 Loyola (Md.) at No. 16 Rutgers
  Saturday, 2 p.m., Big Ten Network

The new No. 1 team in the nation has handed Virginia and Johns Hopkins easy losses at the start of its season behind Pat Spencer’s eight goals and six assists. Rutgers just lost a one-goal game to Army, but like Loyola has been scoring at an impressive clip. Rutgers is tied for 12th in the nation with 14 goals per game, while Loyola ranks seventh with 17.5. This has all the makings of a high-scoring game in Piscataway, New Jersey. It’ll be interesting to see who minds the cage for Rutgers. In wins over Lafayette and St. John’s, Ben Pounds started and 23 saves but allowed 23 goals. Against Army, Max Edelmann took the loss but made 17 saves.

MORE GAMES ON OUR RADAR

All times are listed in E.T. For a full list of broadcast games, please visit our US Lacrosse TV listing page.

FRIDAY, FEB. 22

No. 4 Cornell at Hobart

SATURDAY, FEB. 23

Noon

Albany at Drexel (Lax Sports Network)

Hofstra at No. 17 Villanova (Villanova.com)

Bucknell at No. 10 Ohio State (BTN2Go)

No. 8 Towson at No. 18 Georgetown (GUHoyas. com)

St. John’s at No. 11 High Point (ESPN+)

No. 5 Notre Dame at Richmond (ESPN+)

Johns Hopkins at No. 7 North Carolina (ACC Network)

Binghamton at Lafayette (Patriot League Network)

No. 3 Maryland at Navy (Patriot League Network)

1 p.m.

Stony Brook at Brown (ESPN+)

Massachusetts at Harvard (ESPN+)

1:30 p.m.

Utah at No. 13 Denver (DenverPioneers.com)

3 p.m.

Penn at No. 12 Duke (ACC Network)

SUNDAY, FEB. 24

1 p.m.

Lehigh at No. 4 Cornell (ESPN+)