If high tides raise all ships, then Virginia men’s lacrosse coach Lars Tiffany is ready — and excited — for the water level to rise.

“It’s so much fun being around here,” Tiffany said on Tuesday, roughly 12 hours after the Virginia men’s basketball team captured an NCAA championship. “We’re really, really fortunate.”

Tiffany’s team, ranked fifth in the Nike/US Lacrosse Men’s Division I Top 20, has title aspirations, too. He said there are some parallels to be made between his team and the basketball team, aside from the word “Cavaliers” emblazoned across their chests.

The basketball team had to come from behind in the Elite Eight, Final Four and championship game, while Tiffany has led comebacks in each of his three ACC contests.

“There’s a subtle pressure, but it’s also empowering,” Tiffany said. “We’re built to win.”

Next up is an ACC rival in Duke with championship dreams of its own.

NO. 5 VIRGINIA AT NO. 6 DUKE
WHEN: Saturday, April 13, NOON
WATCH: ESPNU

Two premier close defenders — Cade Van Raaphorst and JT Giles-Harris — and long-stick midfielder Peter Welch give Tiffany much to think about when attempting to solve the Duke defense. Virginia’s top three scoring threats — Michael Kraus, Matt Moore and Dox Aitken —are all talented dodgers who run the risk of being neutralized by these standout defenders.

That means that there could be an increased role for Ian Laviano, Ryan Conrad or some of Virginia’s other young midfielders.

“It’s really the strongest defense we’ve played in terms of the individuals and personnel,” Tiffany said. “We feel that our offensive dodgers, especially those big three, we may find ourselves in this game thinking, ‘Wow, we’re struggling to win those three matchups.’ So, we’ll need others to step up.”

Tiffany said the deciding factor could be at the faceoff X, where Petey LaSalla squares off against Brian Smyth, Duke’s experienced FOGO. The Blue Devils won 21 of 35 faceoffs in last year’s game and won by five goals. Tiffany is cognizant of that and said this could come down to a 3-v-3 off the wings, with Conrad and Jerry Connors making their presences felt.

Perhaps the basketball championship will provide an extra motivation.

“High tides raise all ships, right? It sets a higher bar for the rest of us here in the Virginia athletic department,” Tiffany said. “We’re committed to winning titles.”

Other games highlighting the weekend include:

• No. 12 Syracuse at No. 19 North Carolina
  Saturday, 3 p.m., ACC Network Extra

Syracuse’s final ACC showdown of the regular season comes against the Tar Heels, who have dropped two of their last three games. These teams are nearly identical when considering raw stats like scoring offense and defense. Syracuse beat Johns Hopkins on March 9, and UNC lost to Hopkins on Feb. 23. Although a similar opponent, Hopkins is far from a deciding factor. The Orange earned a 13-12 overtime win against UNC last spring, so it’s likely this will be another close contest. On UNC’s senior day, perhaps the Tar Heels come out with a little extra energy to honor their 13 members of the class of 2019.

• No. 9 Cornell at No. 10 Notre Dame
  Sunday, Noon, ACC Network Extra

Notre Dame has alternated wins and losses over its last six games, albeit against premier competition. Cornell, meanwhile, is looking to rebound from a 13-8 loss to Syracuse. The Fighting Irish’s defense needs to slow down Cornell’s second-ranked offense that is scoring 15.18 goals per game. Jeff Teat, John Piatelli and Clarke Petterson have been a potent trio, putting increased emphasis on Notre Dame’s Jack Kielty, Arden Cohen and Hugh Crance. The Irish do seem to have the edge on faceoffs, as Charles Leonard has won .553 percent of his tries. Paul Rasimowicz has won .402 percent. A late non-conference game of this magnitude could be a boon to both teams, regardless of the result.

MORE GAMES ON OUR RADAR

All times are listed in E.T. For a full list of broadcast games, please visit our US Lacrosse TV/Streaming listing page.

SATURDAY, APRIL 13

Noon

No. 1 Penn State at Michigan (Big Ten Network)

No. 7 Penn at Harvard (ESPN+)

UMass at No. 11 Towson (Lax Sports Network)

No. 3 Loyola at Boston U (Patriot League Network)

1:30 p.m.

No. 13 High Point at Mercer (SoCon Digital Network)

2 p.m.

Hofstra at Delaware (Lax Sports Network)

Princeton at Dartmouth (ESPN+)

3:30 p.m.

No. 18 Army at Navy (CBS Sports Network)

SUNDAY, APRIL 14

Noon

No. 8 Ohio State at No. 15 Johns Hopkins (ESPNU)

1 p.m.

No. 16 Villanova at Georgetown (CBS Sports Network)

7 p.m.

No. 4 Maryland at No. 20 Rutgers (Big Ten Network)