Welcome to the Gameday Guide.

Every weekend during the college lacrosse season, US Lacrosse Magazine staff will riff here on the juiciest matchups, trendiest topics, biggest storylines and hottest takes.

If yesterday was any indication, get ready for more madness in May.

Johns Hopkins’ upset of Rutgers and Hofstra’s dismissal of Delaware reinforced that regular-season records should be taken with a grain of salt come tournament time.

Catch up on any results you missed from yesterday in the complete recap here.

There are eight conference championship games in the next three days and eight automatic NCAA tournament bids up for grabs, setting up a lacrosse fan’s dream weekend. Here’s what you need to know.

As always, check out our TV Listings page for the entire list of games coming up.

GAMES TO WATCH
All times Eastern

SoCon

Richmond (7-5, 5-1 SoCon) dropped its final regular-season game to Air Force 9-8, but that loss remained the only blemish on the No. 1 seed Spiders’ SoCon record after they beat the Falcons 11-6 on Wednesday. Second-seeded High Point (7-5, 4-1), which shared the regular-season title with Richmond, advanced to the conference final after defeating Jacksonville for the second time in less than a week. The Panthers raced out to a 10-1 lead and held on to win 11-9.  

SoCon coach of the year Dan Chemotti and Richmond are vying for their third consecutive conference title. The Spiders have played in the championship game all six years its been contested and hold a 2-1 record against High Point in the title game. The Spiders boast six first team All-SoCon selections, headlined by senior attackman and SoCon offensive player of the year Ryan Lanchbury.

High Point’s two first-team selections, attackman Asher Nolting and midfielder Kevin Rogers, drive the Panthers offense. Nolting ranks third in Division I in assists per game (3.42) and Rogers, who averages 2.67 goals per game, had a hat trick against Jacksonville.

In the teams’ previous meeting this season, Richmond topped High Point 17-11 on March 26 at Robins Stadium. Jon Torpey’s team has not lost a game since.

America East

This one should be fun. Both teams like to get up and down with an up-tempo brand of lacrosse. Corey Yunker lifted fourth-seeded Albany (8-4, 5-3 AE) over the No. 1 seed UMBC when his third goal of the game broke a 12-12 tie late in the fourth quarter of the Great Danes’ 14-12 win. Vermont (8-4, 7-2) used seven straight second-half goals to pull off a 10-7 comeback win against Stony Brook.

In a testament to the Catamounts’ balanced attack, Liam Limoges and Michael McCormack both hit the 100-point mark for their careers yesterday afternoon. The game tomorrow at UMBC Stadium at 10 a.m. Eastern will be Vermont’s fourth America East championship game appearance in the last five years, though the Catamounts have yet to come out on top in the title game.

Albany will make a league record 15th conference title game appearance on Saturday. The Great Danes beat Vermont 14-4 in 2018 and made the Final Four for the first time in program history that year.

Vermont won both games between the teams this spring, each by two goals, and the Catamounts have won the last four meetings between the conference foes.

CAA

Hofstra (7-5, 4-4 CAA) will make its first CAA championship game appearance since 2014 after upsetting Delaware 10-9 in the conference semifinals yesterday. Senior attackman and captain Dylan McIntosh matched his season total in one game with five goals. All 10 of Hofstra's goals were unassisted, and Pride leading scorer Ryan Tierney was held scoreless.

Drexel (9-2, 6-2) used an offensive outpouring in the second half to overcome a 6-2 deficit at the break to claim a 13-8 win over UMass. The Dragons outshot the Minutemen 48-31 and overcame 18 saves from UMass’s Matt Knote. Redshirt-freshman and Syracuse transfer Sean Donnelly led all players with seven points on five goals and two assists. Sophomore goalie Ross Blumenthal made 10 saves in the win.

The Dragons are arguably the hottest team in college lacrosse having won eight straight games dating. The championship game against Hofstra is a rematch of an April 24 contest in Philadelphia, in which Drexel prevailed 12-8.

MAAC

Saturday’s game will be a rematch of a double-overtime thriller in March in which Manhattan defeated Monmouth 9-8. Goalie Brendan Krebs made three of his 11 saves in overtime. It was one of nine double-digit save performances this season for the MAAC co-defensive player of the year — including a 12-save effort Wednesday in the win over Canisius. The senior keeper from Chaminade ranks fourth in all of D-I in save percentage (.591) and ninth in saves per game (13.33).

The Jaspers were the top seed in the conference tournament despite dropping three of their last four games to close the regular season. They also lost to Monmouth in both teams’ season opener March 6.

A win over Monmouth in the final would also clinch Manhattan’s first winning season since 2009 and the program’s first NCAA tournament appearance in 19 years.

NEC

Saint Joseph’s, ranked No. 18 in the Nike / US Lacrosse Top 20, scored a season-high 19 goals Wednesday in a 19-11 win over LIU in the Northeast Conference semifinals. The top-seeded Hawks (9-3) have won nine straight games and will square off with third-seeded Bryant in the championship game Saturday (1 p.m. ET, NEC Front Row/ESPN3).

Saturday will mark the second NEC title game meeting between the two perennial conference powers. The Bulldogs went on the road to down the Hawks 10-6 back in 2015. Bryant, which is 5-0 in NEC finals in its history, will put its streak on the line against a Saint Joseph’s program hungry for its first-ever league crown and NCAA tournament appearance. Despite being a five-time regular-season NEC champion, the Hawks have never won the conference tournament.

Big East

Top-seeded Denver, ranked No. 7 in the Nike / US Lacrosse Top 20, breezed into the Big championship game with a 14-5 victory over Providence, while second-seeded Georgetown, ranked 10th in the country, escaped an upset bid by Villanova with a 14-12 win in a thrilling back-and-forth game.

The Pioneers and Hoyas split the season series. Denver handled Georgetown 13-7 at Peter Barton Stadium on March 16 in a midweek game that was delayed by weather, whereas the Hoyas prevailed a month later with an 11-10 overtime win. Georgetown will make its third-straight appearance in the title game and is the two-time defending Big East champion.

Of note in the title game at Providence will be the faceoff battle. In the last meeting, Georgetown’s James Reilly won 16 of 24 draws and neutralized Denver’s duo of NCAA record holder TD Ierlan and sophomore Alec Stathakis. Reilly was named US Lacrosse Magazine Division Player of the Week for his efforts.

Big Ten

The Big Ten tournament final is a story of two routes. One which could have been predicted weeks ago and another that’s been the surprise of conference tournament play.

Undefeated Maryland continued to look unstoppable with a 16-8 win over Michigan yesterday in the conference semifinals. The top-ranked team in the nation was led, as usual, by Tewaaraton frontrunner and fifth-year senior attackman Jared Bernhardt, who set career-high marks with eight goals and 10 points. Bernhardt also broke the Maryland career points record, previously held by Matt Rambo, in the dominant performance, and he will look to led Maryland to its first Big Ten tournament title since his freshman year.

Standing in the Terrapins way is an unlikely challenger in sixth-seeded Johns Hopkins, which entered the conference tournament 2-8 after losing six straight games. The last of those losses, however, was a one-goal defeat at the hands of Maryland — the toughest test the Terrapins have faced in 2021.

Starting with that game, first-year head coach Peter Milliman’s squad has looked like a different team, upsetting both Penn State and Rutgers on its path to the Big Ten title game.

The stunning win over the Scarlet Knights was made possible by 10 goals from Blue Jay midfielders, including a game-high four from 6-4 freshman Johnathan Peshko. The Ontario product entered last night’s contest with five goals and one assist through nine games. Sophomore goalie Tim Marcille, who made his first career start against Maryland in the regular-season finale, also came up big with 12 saves against Rutgers.