We are mere days away from the opening day of the 2021 Division I women’s lacrosse season — and it feels good to be back.

VCU and Old Dominion kick off the campaign on Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern. And while it’s thrilling to revel in the joys of a new beginning, we must remember (maybe more now than ever) that we shouldn’t project too far ahead.

In a college sports landscape still dealing with COVID-19 to varying degrees, nothing is guaranteed. Let’s enjoy what’s in store this weekend and take the rest as it comes.

There are plenty of storylines this season, and with perhaps the most anticipated lacrosse season in history on the horizon, let’s take a look at what’s to come from A to Z.

A is for the ACC.

Just take a look at the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Women’s Preseason Top 20. Seriously. (Also, make sure you bookmark our rankings hub for updated Top 20s every Monday). Three of the top four teams are from the ACC, with North Carolina at No. 1, Notre Dame at No. 2 and Syracuse at No. 3. Duke (No. 15), Boston College (No. 17), Virginia (No. 18) and Virginia Tech (No. 20) also make appearances. No matter what happens this spring, there’s a good chance an ACC team or two will have a hand in what’s to come.

B is for Angie Benson.

Speaking of Virginia Tech, Angie Benson provided an instant boost to the Hokies in 2020. Sure, we didn’t get to see just how far the goalkeeper would take her new team, but she most certainly was a force through 10 games. She was second in the nation in GAA (7.38), and she made 83 saves — including four games with 10 or more.

C is for Lizzie Colson.

Maryland was an uncharacteristic 3-3 when the season was canceled, as Cathy Reese’s program was incredibly young. Reese and the Terps sorely missed defender Lizzie Colson, who tore her ACL on June 13, 2019, training with the U.S. women’s national team, redshirted last year. Back for another shot at a national championship, Colson is an instant difference-maker on defense — especially as Maryland copes with the loss of Emma Schettig, who transferred to Notre Dame following a freshman year in which she earned some postseason All-American recognition.

D is for Draw Dominators.

Three draw-takers — Caitlyn Petro of UMass, Maddie Jenner of Duke and Brennan Dwyer of Northwestern — can single-handedly alter the course of a game. Momentum so often lies within the confines of the draw circle, and the aforementioned women are a step above the rest at the position. Arden Tierney of Richmond is an up-and-comer at the position, and don’t overlook Stony Brook’s Ally Kennedy. She might be the best in the business at coming off the circle and securing possession.

E is for Sarah Elms.

The senior Jacksonville attacker might have fallen off some radars after missing the 2019 season. As a freshman in 2018, she was a unanimous first-team All-ASUN selection posted 63 goals and 17 assists. She came back in 2020, starting all four games and dropping 18 goals, ranking fourth in the nation in goals per game. Jacksonville’s dangerous offense can cause problems, and Elms is one of the key cogs.

F is for fewer games.

This seems self-explanatory. In this COVID-altered landscape, this won’t necessarily be the same lacrosse season we’ve grown accustomed to watching. Whether it be due to contact tracing or actual positive test results, games are bound to either be postponed or — more likely — outright canceled.

G is for Sam Geiersbach.

Richmond’s do-it-all offensive star led the team with 45 points and 23 assists in 2020. She was second on the Spiders in goals with 22. Richmond’s impactful recruiting class had much to do with the program’s rise to No. 10 in the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Women’s Top 20 at the time the season was canceled, but Geiersbach is the team’s motor. With her and goalie Megan Gianforte back in the mix in 2021, Richmond could continue to climb.

H is for Emily Hawryschuk.

A Tewaaraton Award finalist candidate, if not a favorite. The graduate student is back for a Syracuse team with series Championship Weekend vibes. Hawryschuk was the ultimate game-breaker in 2020, playing best late in games. She totaled 27 goals and three assists and was well on her way to breaking her career-best 75 goals from 2019.

I is for Ivy League.

Will Ivy League teams play? At this point, your guess is as good as mine. If they don’t, NCAA tournament staples like Penn and Princeton will be noticeably absent. As will Dartmouth, which was a force to be reckoned with in 2020.

J is for Just enjoy it.

This should speak for itself. The social media chatter about COVID restrictions and awkward scheduling isn’t going away any time soon. Relax. Take a breath. Lacrosse is here. Just enjoy it.

K is for Shannon Kavanagh.

Like Hawryschuk, Kavanagh is another game-changer. There were times in 2020 when Kavanagh willed Florida to wins, like when she scored seven goals against Maryland, ending the Terps’ 83-game winning streak in College Park. A weapon on the draw and on offense, Kavanagh could challenge Lindsey Ronbeck’s single-season program record of 89 goals if Florida is able to play a full slate of games.

L is for Loyola.

The Greyhounds were 5-0 when their magical 2020 season came to a close, and it was looking we would be talking about them come Memorial Day Weekend. Sure, it was early, but Loyola had all the makings of a real championship contender. And the team’s prospects remain strong. All three seniors on the 2020 roster are back as graduate students.

M is for Sammy Mueller.

The Virginia transfer joins a Northwestern team already positioned as the top offensive team in the country. The draw unit is exceptional, too. But where Mueller will certainly help is on the defensive end as a true two-way midfielder. Northwestern doesn’t necessarily have to shut teams down to win games, but it allowed 15.14 goals per game last year — No. 100 overall.

N is for Notre Dame.

Don’t sleep on the Fighting Irish. Like Loyola, Notre Dame made great strides in 2020 and earned the No. 2 ranking before the season came to an abrupt end. Seven graduate transfers, a deep offense, a sturdy defense and Bridget Deehan in the cage make the Irish a threat in both the ACC and the lacrosse landscape at large. Chris Halfpenny has built a culture in South Bend, and it’s paying off.

O is for Jamie Ortega.

The 2021 US Lacrosse Magazine Division I Women’s Preseason Attacker of the Year was 2020’s Preseason Player of the Year. She’s a lethal scorer, evidenced by her nation-leading shooting percentage of 76.2. She’s also a star when it counts. In three NCAA tournament games in 2019, she scored 10 goals with five assists.

P is for Pac-12.

USC was up to No. 8 in the rankings in 2020, but the Pac-12 landscape might be changing. USC lost midfielders Kerrigan Miller (UNC) and Kaeli Huff (Stony Brook) to the transfer portal, and replaces them with Michaela McMahon, a Penn transfer, and Maddie McDaniel, a James Madison transfer. Emily Concialdi and Hope Anhut are also gone. As USC revamps with a new look, Stanford brings in a stellar freshman class and Colorado is still looming. This conference is one to watch as the season progresses.

Q is for quadruplets.

That’s right, the Schneidereith sisters are all back for fifth years. Jamie and Lucy Schneidereith are back at Drexel, while Georgia Schneidereith (Albany) and Maggie Schneidereith (Johns Hopkins) are also enjoying the blanket waiver granted by the NCAA to spring student-athletes.

R is for Sarah Reznick.

Is she the next generational talent between the pipes? After redshirting in 2019, Reznick made her college debut in 2020 and flashed her potential for the Gators. She started all eight games, making double-digit stops four times, and recorded 14 saves in the aforementioned win against Maryland in College Park. She also made 13 saves in an upset win over Stony Brook.

S is for Stony Brook.

Speaking of Stony Brook, it’s the same question as its been for much of the last half-decade. Will this be the year Joe Spallina’s blue-collar bunch earns a trip to Championship Weekend? Midfielder Ally Kennedy is a Tewaaraton favorite and the US Lacrosse Magazine Division I Women’s Preseason Player of the Year. The midfield is deep, the attack is led by Taryn Ohlmiller and the zone defense is still formidable. We’ll see.

T is for title defense.

With last year’s 3-3 record still fresh on some minds, let’s not forget that Maryland is still the reigning NCAA champion. Reese’s team was young, and as mentioned in “C,” missing Lizzie Colson certainly hurt the defense. But consider last season something of a trial by fire for those underclassmen. Reese will use that experience as an opportunity for growth. Never count out the Terps.

U is for UMass.

We learned Sunday that UMass is under a mandatory 14-week pause with COVID-19 cases rising on the Amherst campus. Assuming the Minutewomen get back under way this spring, they’re an interesting team come playoff time. Petro is a force on the circle and an array of offensive options in Kaitlyn Cerasi, Stephani Croke, Haley Connaughton and others make this team tough to beat on that end of the field.

V is for Emma Vinall.

If you didn’t pay much attention to American until last season, you wouldn’t be at fault. But the Eagles were a perfect 7-0 under interim coach Maureen Benson when the season closed, and Vinall was a key reason why, leading Division I with 42 goals, 6.0 goals per game and 9.9 shots per game. With Lindsay Teeters now at the helm, it will be interesting to see if American continues its progression.

W is for Caitlyn Wurzburger.

She’s here. The most decorated high school player in girls’ lacrosse history is finally a college player, though it remains unclear what role she’ll play on a loaded North Carolina offense. Each team is different, but Brennan O’Neill — the No. 1 incoming freshman on the men’s side according to Inside Lacrosse — has played a significant role at Duke through two games.

X is for the X, where Katie Hoeg could set records.

Hoeg, North Carolina’s all-time points leader, needs a career-best season, but the top spot on the Division I career assists leaderboard isn’t an impossibility. Hoeg needs 86 more to tie Kylie Ohlmiller’s all-time mark of 246. Hoeg will, of course, need to get lucky to some degree, as UNC needs to play a full season’s worth of games in a COVID world. But it’s not impossible.

Y is for yearly surprises.

They happen annually. Of course, given the nature of “surprises,” they aren’t exactly easy to predict. This year, keep your eyes on Stanford, Duke and Boston College. The Eagles shouldn’t seem like much of a surprise given their very recent success, but a down year in 2020 has some people sleeping.

Z is for zero percent.

Unfortunately, that’s the likelihood of a season going off without cancellations. But just like we talked about under “J,” just go with it. Enjoy the ride. Lacrosse is back.