Weekend One-Liners: NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Tournament First-Round Edition

New season. The most important time of the year. May Madness.

Call it what you want. The NCAA tournament kicks off Friday with 13 first-round games. The top three seeds — No. 1 Northwestern, No. 2 Syracuse and No. 3 Boston College — won’t play until Sunday’s second round. But plenty of interesting matchups will determine those eight Sunday games.

By the end of the weekend, the 29-team field will be down to eight. Enjoy the madness while you can.

Check back here and on USA Lacrosse Magazine’s social channels (@usalacrossemag) throughout the weekend for wall-to-wall coverage, including live updates, highlights and the best goal celebrations.

BALTIMORE, MD.

Fairfield at (8) Loyola, Friday, 3 p.m. (ESPN+)

Defense could be the order of the day in this one, which pits five-time defending MAAC champion Fairfield (8.39 goals allowed per game) against Patriot League power Loyola (6.63 goals allowed per game).

Game of the Day: Stony Brook vs. Penn State, Friday, 7 p.m. (ESPN+)

No one would be all that surprised if either of these Top 20 teams “snuck” into the quarterfinals.

Winners play Sunday at 2 p.m.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.

Sacred Heart at (4) North Carolina, Friday, 2 p.m. (ESPN+)

Third in the Nike/USA Lacrosse Top 20 and the fourth seed in the tournament, UNC hosts a Sacred Heart team in the tournament for the first time since 2010 after winning the Northeast Conference crown.

Upset Alert: Marquette vs. Richmond, Friday, 5 p.m. (ESPN+)

Maquette’s 15 wins are the most in program history, and Richmond upset UMass for the A-10 championship — consider this one the weekend’s Cinderella Bowl.

Winners play Sunday at 12 p.m.

NEWTON, MASS.

UConn vs. Penn, Friday, 1 p.m. (ESPN+)
Both teams scored emotional wins last weekend — Penn over Yale for the Ivy title and UConn over Marquette in the Big East semis — and it’ll be interesting to see if it spills over into passionate play come Friday.

Winner plays (3) Boston College on Sunday at 12 p.m.

DENVER, COLO.

USC at (5) Denver, Friday, 5 p.m. (ESPN+)

If anyone got the shaft, it’s the undefeated Pioneers, who take on Pac-12 champion USC in what will likely be a low-scoring affair between two of Division I’s top-ranked scoring defenses.

Albany vs. Virginia, Friday, 8 p.m. (ESPN+)

One of the feel-good stories of the tournament, Albany enters the NCAA as America East champions after falling in nine-straight conference finals.

Winners play Sunday at 3 p.m.

EVANSTON, ILL.

Central Michigan vs. Michigan, Friday, 3 p.m. (ESPN+)

This contest may look like a Michigan rout on paper, but Central Michigan challenged the Wolverines in a 7-6 loss on Feb. 26.

Winner plays No. 1 Northwestern Sunday at 12 p.m.

GAINESVILLE, FLA.

Jacksonville at (6) Florida, Friday, 4 p.m. (ESPN+)

AAC tournament champion Florida and Jacksonville squared off in last year’s second round, a 15-10 Gators win.

Mercer at Notre Dame, Friday, 7 p.m. (ESPN+)

Two teams with top-10 scoring offenses could engage in a track meet on Friday, though Notre Dame’s ninth-ranked scoring defense may be one of few units that can contain Bears star Shannon Urey.

Winners play Sunday at 12 p.m.

HARRISONBURG, VA.

Army at (7) James Madison, Friday, 2 p.m. (ESPN+)

James Madison’s stock may have fallen out of the top five with an AAC loss to Florida, but the silver lining for fans is we get this matchup against first-time dancer, Army.

Drexel vs. Maryland, Friday, 5 p.m. (ESPN+)

Maryland may not be seeded, but never bet against the Terps, who are making their 33rd-straight NCAA tournament.

Winners play Sunday at 1 p.m.

SYRACUSE, N.Y.

Johns Hopkins vs. UMass, Friday, 2 p.m. (ESPN+)

Subplot: First-year Blue Jays head coach Tim McCormack produced an All-American career at UMass, and UMass assistant Aurora Cordingley starred at Hopkins before transferring to Maryland in 2022.

Winner plays (2) Syracuse Sunday at 3 p.m.