Welcome to the Gameday Guide.

Every weekend during the college lacrosse season, USA Lacrosse Magazine staff will riff on the juiciest matchups, trendiest topics and biggest storylines. Check out the rankings and TV listings for more.

Lamenting the end of March Madness? Here’s some consolation: The end of the college basketball season means more linear TV slots for college lacrosse games.

Between ESPNU, CBS College Sports, Fox Sports 1 and the Big Ten Network, couch potatoes who prefer cable over streaming will see plenty of college lacrosse in their channel guides — including eight Division I men’s games and two Division I women’s games.

The binge watching culminates Sunday night with the biggest game of the week. (Televised games are listed in bold.)

GAMES TO WATCH
ALL TIMES EASTERN

DIVISION I GAME OF THE WEEK

No. 4 Rutgers at No. 1 Maryland – Sunday 7 p.m. ET (BTN)

The Scarlet Knights have emerged as the clearest and most present threat to the Terps’ supremacy in the Big Ten. Coming off a breakthrough 2021 season in which they made their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2004 and earned their first NCAA tournament win since 1990, they’re off to the best start in program history at 10-1. Rutgers has never defeated a top-ranked team, however, and has not beaten Maryland since 1980. The Scarlet Knights are equally as explosive as the Terps, with five different players scoring at least 20 goals this season. Maryland (No. 1) and Rutgers (No. 3) both boast top-five scoring offenses. Their defenses — ranked eighth and 12th, respectively — are nothing to sneeze at either.

DIVISION III GAME OF THE WEEK

No. 3 Union at No. 4 RIT – Saturday 1 p.m. ET (RIT)

Union has slain several D-III giants already this season, including wins over Williams, Middlebury, St. Lawrence, Tufts and most recently St. John Fisher. The Dutchmen are 10-0, the best start to a season in program history. Defending NCAA champion RIT represents a different obstacle altogether for Union, which has lost the last 19 games in the series with its Liberty League foe. The Dutchmen are 3-24 all-time against the Tigers.

UPSET WATCH

Brown at No. 8 Penn – Saturday 1 p.m. ET (ESPN+)

We don’t talk about Bruno in “Games to Watch,” and maybe that’s a mistake. Ivy League teams were supposed to be rusty following a two-year layoff. Instead, it’s looking like a five-bid conference. The two Ivy teams not currently in that postseason picture — Brown and Dartmouth — have faded some after hot starts. But would anyone be astonished if the Bears knocked off the Quakers or the Big Green took down Yale?

BEST GAME NO ONE’S TALKING ABOUT

No. 17 Richmond at No. 9 Jacksonville – Saturday 11 a.m. ET (ESPN+)

It’s probably a stretch to say no one’s talking about these titans of the SoCon, considering we just ran our April edition cover story on the rise of Jacksonville lacrosse and Richmond rocketed into the rankings this week. But it’s time to stop treating these teams like they’re novelties. Denver, Duke and Virginia can attest to their bona fides. So get an early start Saturday and fire up the Plus to see if the host Dolphins can defeat the Spiders for the first time in program history.

UNDER-THE-RADAR STARS

Chris Lyons, Yale

The Bulldogs’ 18-goal first-half outburst against BU earlier this week included six tallies from an unlikely source in Lyons, the freshman midfielder from Medford, New Jersey. His performance, which included an assist and three ground balls, was good for a 6.87 EGA rating by Lacrosse Reference.

Bobby O’Grady, Marquette

Another freshman making waves, O’Grady scored six goals in Marquette’s 16-11 win over Providence and is the Golden Eagles’ top scorer by a wide margin with 26 goals in nine games.

Luke Wierman, Maryland

It’s not fair. Faceoffs were supposed to be Maryland’s weakness. But Wierman has improved from 45.3 percent as a sophomore to 66.4 percent as a junior, tacking on six goals and three assists to boot. For context, his estimated goals added (EGA) of 5.16 per game rank third nationally, according to Lacrosse Reference.

Christopher Yanchoris, Siena

The senior goalie made 21 saves and allowed just one goal in a 10-1 win over Monmouth, a near-perfect save percentage of 95 percent. The performance was no outlier, either. Yanchoris currently ranks third nationally in saves per game (15.3), fourth in save percentage (58.8) — which means he’s seeing a ton of rubber and turning away shots at an impressive rate.