Weekend One-Liners: Rivalries Renew in Women's Lacrosse

The two power conferences of Division I women’s lacrosse will continue to take center stage as the national landscape attempts to sort itself out.

But don’t overlook some of the mid-majors. Army and Navy play the Star Game on CBS Sports Network — Army has bounced back from a slow start, and the two squads are jockeying for the No. 2 seed in the Patriot League.

And Harvard-Yale, another classic football rivalry, has added intrigue in lacrosse with both teams on the rise in the Ancient Eight.

Speaking of “on the rise,” Sunday’s Game of the Week between Johns Hopkins and Michigan includes two teams that stand a chance at making it to the title game in the Big Ten.

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No. 10 James Madison (10-3) at No. 12 Florida (12-2) ­­­— Saturday, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN+)

While this rivalry won’t continue as planned with Florida set to move to the Big 12 next year, there’s no reason to think the American Athletic Conference title-game rematch won’t be a good one in 2024.

No. 1 Notre Dame (12-2) at Virginia Tech (9-6) ­­­— Saturday, 12 p.m. (ACCX)

The Irish look to make it lucky No. 7 (straight) against Virginia Tech.

No. 3 Syracuse (11-3) at Clemson (9-5) — Saturday, 12 p.m. (ACCX)

The Orange rolls into Clemson as one of the nation’s hottest teams, having won eight in a row since an overtime heartbreaker to Stony Brook on March 5. 

Penn State (7-6) at No. 5 Maryland (11-3) — Saturday, 12 p.m. (B1G+)

Penn State already knocked off Northwestern; can the Nittany Lions take down the conference’s other perennial power?

No. 10 Yale (10-1) at No. 20 Harvard (8-2) — Saturday, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)

The lacrosse version of the quintessential Ancient Eight rivalry pits the conference’s top-scoring offense against its best scoring defense.

No. 11 Princeton (7-3) at Brown (9-3) — Saturday, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)

Ivy League standard-bearer Princeton squares off with emerging Brown.

Ohio State (7-6) at No. 2 Northwestern (11-2) — Saturday, 1 p.m. (BIG+)

The Wildcats should take this one against the Buckeyes, who have lost back-to-back games against Cincinnati and Louisville, but 2024 is a weird year.

No. 4 Boston College (12-2) at No. 9 Virginia (11-3) — Saturday, 4 p.m. (ACCX)

UVA-to-BC transfer Rachel Clark returns to Charlottesville — this time in the visiting locker room — after a five-goal performance against Clemson last Sunday.

Cincinnati (10-4) at Temple (8-4) — Saturday, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)

Cincy scored an upset over Ohio State last Friday, and Temple pushed James Madison on Saturday in a loss — this American Athletic Conference game is a hidden gem.

USC (10-3) at No. 18 Stanford (8-3) — Saturday, 4 p.m. (Stanford Live Stream)

In the final in-conference playing of the storied rivalry, Stanford has a (slight) upper hand not anticipated after a down 2023.

Army (6-6) at Navy (10-3) — Saturday, 4:15 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)

Army has recovered from a slow start with four straight wins, and the two Service Academies enter the Star Game with identical 4-1 Patriot League marks.

Game of the Week: No. 6 Michigan (13-1) at No. 8 Johns Hopkins (10-4) — Sunday, 12 p.m. (ESPNU)

A B1G matchup between two Big Ten sleeper teams gets the ESPNU treatment.

No. 16 Stony Brook (12-2) at Drexel (9-3) — Sunday, 12 p.m. (Flo Live)

One of the top scorers in Division I in Ellie Masera will take shots against Drexel’s star goalie Jenika Cuocco, who is second nationally in save percentage (.581).