Weekend One-Liners: Regular-Season Finales and a Postseason Soft Launch
After a season of chaos, one can only guess what the final weeks of the regular season will bring. This week, a packed schedule includes Big Ten regular-season finales and Ivy League games galore.
The postseason also soft-launches on Sunday with the opening round of the ACC tournament, which continues next week.
TV LISTINGS | USA LACROSSE TOP 20
No. 6 Loyola (13-2) at Holy Cross (10-4) — Saturday, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)
A win over Loyola would be Holy Cross’ sixth in the Patriot League this season, tying a school mark, but the Greyhounds haven’t lost a conference game since 2013.
No. 13 Florida (13-2) at Cincinnati (10-5) — Saturday, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)
Florida left no doubt about who was the favorite in the American Athletic Conference in a 15-7 win over James Madison last weekend, but now it’s on to Cincinnati (as aforementioned Holy Cross coach Amanda Belichick’s father famously said).
Dartmouth (7-5) at No. 11 Princeton (8-5) — Saturday, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)
Dartmouth has struggled in the Ivy League (1-4), but don’t count it out — Big Green beat USC on the road in March.
Brown (9-4) at No. 12 Penn (10-3) — Saturday, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)
After upending Loyola on Wednesday afternoon, Penn returns to Ivy play to take on Brown, which is likely smarting after its poorest showing of the season (23-10 vs. Princeton).
No 10 Yale (11-1) at Cornell (7-6) — Saturday, 3 p.m. (ESPN+)
Yale can clinch at least a share of the Ivy regular-season crown with a road win.
No. 2 Northwestern (12-2) at No. 8 Michigan (14-1) — Sunday, 12 p.m. (B1G+)
A potential preview of the Big Ten title game (and, let’s be honest, an NCAA tournament second round game — or perhaps a quarterfinal or Final Four matchup led by a pair of coaches who know each other all too well).
Fairfield (14-1) at Siena (12-4) — Sunday, 1 p.m. (Siena All-Access)
The MAAC’s top two teams square off in a rematch of last season’s conference tournament title game, a 17-4 Fairfield rout.
Colorado (10-4) at USC (10-4) — Sunday, 3 p.m. (Pac-12 Los Angeles)
A pair of Pac-12 contenders and fringe-Top-20 programs are set for an L.A. showdown.
ACC TOURNAMENT
No. 8 Virginia Tech (9-8) vs. No. 9 Louisville (7-10) — Sunday, 12 p.m., (ACC Network)
Hokies’ Olivia Vergano poured in five goals when the two teams met on Feb. 24, a 14-10 Virginia Tech win.
No. 7 Clemson (10-6) vs. No. 10 Pitt (5-12) — Sunday, 2 p.m., (ACC Network)
And so they meet again — three days after playing one another in the regular-season finale, which Clemson took on Thursday.
Beth Ann Mayer
Beth Ann Mayer is a Long Island-based writer. She joined USA Lacrosse in 2022 after freelancing for Inside Lacrosse for five years. She first began covering the game as a student at Syracuse. When she's not writing, you can find her wrangling her husband, two children and surplus of pets.