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

Joey Spallina’s college career was under a microscope before he ever even stepped foot on campus at Syracuse.

And for those on social media who rushed to label the No. 1-ranked recruit and new No. 22 a bust after his 1-for-15 shooting performance in the Orange’s season-opening win over Vermont, Spallina authored an emphatic rebuttal Friday night. The freshman attackman scored five goals on seven shots, leading Syracuse to a 20-7 victory over Albany at the Dome.

Elsewhere Friday, Scout Ripley scored in overtime to lift VMI to a 10-9 win over Queens (N.C.) in Charlotte and No. 18 North Carolina opened its season with a 25-3 blowout of Mercer.

It was merely an appetizer. Check out our updated TV listings for all the games to stream this weekend. Here’s one line on a dozen other games of note this weekend. All times Eastern. Rankings per the Nike/USA Lacrosse Top 20.

Michigan (0-0) at No. 1 Virginia (0-0), Saturday, 12 p.m. (ACC Network)

Former Stanford linebacker Ricky Miezan plays lacrosse today, and all reports out of the preseason indicate that’s reason alone to watch.

No. 7 Duke (2-0) at Jacksonville (0-1), Saturday, 12 p.m. (Dolphins All-Access)

Red-hot Duke returns to the scene of one of the most surprising upsets of the 2022 season.

Army (0-0) at UMass (0-0), Saturday, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)

Always an entertaining matchup, the rivalry this year features a faceoff battle between Army sophomore Will Coletti (56.3% as a freshman) and UMass redshirt sophomore/social media star Caleb “Drip King” Hammett (95K followers on TikTok, 61.5% last year).

No. 17 Boston University (0-0) at Vermont (0-0), Saturday, 12 p.m. (America East TV)

Sneaky good game featuring the reigning Patriot League and America East champions, the latter coming off an excellent defensive performance in a 7-5 season-opening loss at Syracuse.

Fairfield (0-0) at Lehigh (0-0), Saturday, 1 p.m. (ESPN+)

The Stags and Mountain Hawks have met just once before, with Lehigh claiming a 15-11 win in Hilton Head, S.C., on March 12, 1997.

GAME OF THE WEEK

No. 3 Georgetown (0-0) at No. 16 Johns Hopkins (1-0), Saturday, 1 p.m. (ESPN+)

A revenge game for Georgetown transfer Alex Mazzone, who had two caused turnovers and a pole goal to lead Johns Hopkins (are the Blue Jays back?) in an impressive defensive performance against Jacksonville.

No. 2 Maryland at Loyola, Saturday, 1 p.m. (ESPN+)

Coaches get worried when no one’s talking about Loyola, but a Maryland team assuming a defensive identity behind new No. 1 Brett Makar (four caused turnovers in season-opening win over Richmond) should not sweat its first visit to Evergreen since 2013.

Providence at Bryant, Saturday, 1 p.m. (America East TV)

First-year head coaches Bobby Benson (Providence) and Brad Ross (Bryant) square off for Rhode Island bragging rights, with a little extra incentive for former Providence head coach now being on the staff at Bryant.

UPSET WATCH

Stony Brook at No. 10 Rutgers, Saturday, 1 p.m. (BTN+)

Starring Dylan Pallonetti, the Seawolves nearly accomplished the feat last year against the Scarlet Knights, rallying from a five-goal deficit late but falling just short in a 17-16 thriller.

No. 19 Navy (2-0) at Hofstra (0-1), Saturday, 2 p.m. (FloSports)

There will be plenty motivation for the Pride — coming off a season-opening loss at Merrimack — to knock off the Midshipmen in a game pitting U.S. assistants Seth Tierney and Joe Amplo against each other.

Manhattan vs. St. John’s, Saturday, 1 p.m. (Long Island Lacrosse Journal)

The game is at West Islip (N.Y.), alma mater of new St. John's head coach Justin Turri and not far from Cold Spring Harbor (N.Y.), alma mater of new Manhattan head coach John Odierna.

Penn State at Villanova, Sunday, 12 p.m. (FloSports)

A Philly primer to get you rooting for the Eagles in the Super Bowl, making our senior director of communications Brian Logue very happy.