Twelve days out from the first known scheduled game of the 2021 season, most NCAA Division I men’s and women’s lacrosse teams are still finalizing their schedules for the spring — working out conference schedules first before moving to slot in as many non-conferences as permitted by their institution or conference.
Privately, most coaches have an idea of their schedules, but final schedules won’t be released until approved by administrators. COVID-19 protocols and travel restrictions are a sticking point for many. Some teams have set schedules with games beginning as early as Feb. 13. The earliest game appears to be Jan. 30, when Bellarmine visits Mercer — according to the schedule the Knights released on Twitter last week — and Utah opens at Denver.
The America East, Big Ten and Ivy League remain the least clear about exactly how their seasons will unfold. Here’s a snapshot of each conference’s scheduling format as of Monday morning.
AAC (W)
Conference: Double round-robin beginning March 20. Five weekends spread over seven weeks with a team hosting the same opponent Friday and Sunday.
Non-conference: Full schedule possible at the discretion of each program. “We’re spreading them out,” Temple coach Bonnie Rosen said. “They’re all local games. We’re not going overnight.”
Conference tournament: May 6-8 for top four teams but seeding scenarios yet to be determined in case games are not made up.
AMERICA EAST (M)
Conference: Expected that teams will play two teams twice apiece and five other teams once each.
Non-conference: Full schedule possible at the discretion of each program. No weekday games between March and April so make-up games can be scheduled then.
Conference tournament: Top four teams May 6-8 hosted by top seed.
AMERICA EAST (W)
Conference: Full details still unclear, but likely to play single round-robin plus a few teams twice to get to double-digit games.
Non-conference: Full schedule possible at the discretion of each program.
Conference tournament: Unclear.
ACC (M)
Conference: Six games – playing two teams twice and two teams once. Each team will have three home and three away games.
Non-conference: Up to the discretion of each institution.
Conference tournament: None this year. “Regardless of what it looks like, it’s going to be an arduous journey for the players,” said Notre Dame coach Kevin Corrigan, whose team won’t start practicing until Jan. 27. “To focus through all the protocols and everything else, it’s exhausting. The social restrictions, logistical restrictions of every single day, it gives you a headache. Just how to just get guys through the locker room. Things you never gave seconds of thought to before. That’s exhausting for everybody.”
ACC (W)
Conference: Seven games that count for conference standings, plus three additional meetings with geographically close ACC teams. Teams will play those three extra games by hosting the same opponent over a long weekend.
Non-conference: Up to five games out of conference.
Conference tournament: Seeded by winning percentage. Will finish the second weekend of May. “I’m so grateful,” Boston College coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein said. “I’m fired up to be playing. Period. It’s something we’ll never take for granted again. As of right now, I have a really good take on everything and I’m really optimistic. Everyone is working really hard to find ways to make this work for us. I’m just grateful.”
ATLANTIC 10 (W)
Conference: Split into pods that will play each other twice home and away for a total of eight games beginning March 28 with two games apiece on long weekends for all but one single-game weekend.
Northern pod: Duquesne, LaSalle, St. Bonaventure, Saint Joseph’s, UMass.
Southern pod: Richmond, George Mason, Virginia Commonwealth, Davidson, George Washington.
Non-conference: Up to the discretion of individual institutions to schedule games beginning Feb. 13.
Conference tournament: Four teams total (down from the usual six) April 30-May 2. Top two teams from each pod automatically, then the next two best teams from either pod.
ATLANTIC SUN (W)
Conference: Single round robin with full conference.
Non-conference: Up to the discretion of individual institutions to schedule games. A lot of crossover with the Southern Conference. “We have a lot of open dates,” Jacksonville coach Mindy McCord said. “We usually have teams that come to us for spring break. That made an impact. It hit us hard. No one is really flying in.”
Conference tournament: Top four teams will play at Kennesaw State the second weekend of May. Seeds based on win percentage.
BIG EAST (M)
Conference: Double round robin with each team playing home and away.
Non-conference: Full schedule possible at the discretion of each program.
Conference tournament: Top four teams the weekend of May 6 at Providence.
BIG EAST (W)
Conference: Double round robin with teams hosting the same opponent Friday-Sunday for a total of 10 games beginning March 19. Two bye weekends built in for possible make-ups. “We’ve been playing a Wednesday-Saturday schedule for a while,” Denver coach Liza Kelly said, “so the Friday-Sunday will be a little adjustment.”
Non-conference: Full schedule possible at the discretion of each program. Denver will play Colorado in a home and away series.
Conference tournament: Georgetown will host the second weekend in May. “The hardest part for everybody and the players is not really having anything set until now,” Kelly said. “It’s been a mental struggle. There’s high anxiety and a lack of control. To have something to show parents and show everyone that they’re going to play has made a huge difference.”
BIG SOUTH (W)
Conference: Single round-robin schedule.
Non-conference: Up to the discretion of each institution.
Conference tournament: Top four teams will play at the top seed April 30-May 2. To qualify, teams must compete within one game of the league average games played.
BIG TEN (M/W)
Conference: Still in the process of formalizing a double round-robin schedule. Games potentially starting Feb. 13 for women and Feb. 20 for men.
Non-conference: Due to stringent testing requirements, expected to be severely limited if at all for possible opponents. The Big Ten tests athletes six times per week.
Conference tournament: Expected to happen, but no further details. “We hope to know more details in late January or early February,” Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse coach Peter Milliman said in an email sent to team supporters Sunday. “It is possible that we may engage in some non-conference games, but the majority of our schedule will be dedicated to competition within the Big [Ten].” Milliman also said he does not anticipate there would be spectators allowed at games.
CAA (M)
Conference: Eight games with four home and four away. Teams face four teams once apiece and two teams twice each.
Non-conference: Up to each institution’s discretion. “My administration has been wonderful to work with,” Hofstra coach Seth Tierney said. “We’re trying to base it on 75 percent of what we’d allow. We’re hopeful to get into the lower teens — 12, 13, 14 games. They’ve asked all the teams to be as financially sensitive and feasible as possible. If it’s an overnight situation, bring it forward and decide if it’s worth it.”
Conference tournament: Top four teams will play at Hofstra, which was selected to minimize travel for all teams, on May 6-8.
CAA (W)
Conference: Divided into pods.
South pod: Elon, James Madison, and William and Mary will play each other twice.
North pod: Delaware, Drexel, Hofstr and Towson will play each other once plus their travel partner twice. “We’re excited to be in position where we’re playing most of our conference teams,” Towson coach Sonia LaMonica said. “Our conference office created a schedule. It revolves around making everything as regional as possible. We’re playing everybody except for Elon.”
Non-conference: Up to each institution’s discretion. Towson posted a 15-game schedule beginning at Mount. St. Mary’s on Feb. 13.
Conference tournament: Top five teams with a play-in game the first week of May.
INDEPENDENTS
Utah has three home games on its schedule. It had six, but three teams backed out of trips.
“For me, it’s not that far out of the norm,” Utah coach Brian Holman said. “I’m fighting and scrapping and clawing to get games.”
The Utes open Jan. 30 at Denver and still have open dates to fill. Among their home games is new independent Robert Morris coming to them.
“We might be a hot commodity for some teams needing to pick up a game versus us having to really struggle to get teams to play us,” Holman said. “We’re going to be willing to fly just about anywhere to play just about anybody.”
IVY LEAGUE (M/W)
Still not a lot of clarity on how the Ivies will proceed even after a coaches meeting last Thursday. Ivy teams are supposed to be able to start practicing Feb. 1. The Princeton and Harvard women don’t have all their players this season, and Dartmouth will be missing one-third of its players during its winter semester.
“I would be up for practice just so we’re not behind and they could have an outlet,” Penn women’s coach Karin Corbett said. “That’s so hard. I would love to practice. The games are icing on the cake. Practice, we could make it competitive and fun.”
Questions remain about how they will play games. Several Ivy League institutions have such restrictive COVID-19 policies at the moment that they could not travel. Ivy teams also have to go through a three-phase approach to even get to games. None of the Ivy teams got out of Phase 1 in the fall, which limited them to practicing in pods of fewer than 10 players while socially distanced, doing skill work, lifting and conditioning.
A rumored plan to bubble the league for weeks for conference play seems unlikely. “I doubt that’s going to happen because the Ivy League doesn’t do different things for the athletes,” Corbett said. “They’re not going to do that from my understanding, anything special for the athletes versus other kids on campus.”
MAAC (M)
Conference: Teams will play on Saturdays from Feb. 20 until the built-in make-up date of May 1. The first three pod games will not count for conference standings before playing a single round-robin schedule.
Pods: Manhattan, Marist, Monmouth and Quinnipiac are one pod. Canisius, Detroit Mercy, St. Bonaventure and Siena are the other pod. “We felt the best thing to do is keep it as normal as possible,” Marist coach Keegan Wilkinson said. “We’ve got a seven-game schedule, which kept our conference schedule as is.”
Non-conference: No non-conference games.
Conference tournament: Top four teams meet the second weekend in May at the home of highest seed.
MAAC (W)
Conference: Playing 12 total games between two pods.
Northern pod: Canisius, Marist, Niagara and Siena will play as many as three games against each other plus one game apiece against each team in the southern pod.
Southern pod: Fairfield, Iona, Manhattan, Monmouth and Quinnipiac play each other twice and once apiece against the northern pod teams. Teams will play Thursday-Sunday starting Feb. 24.
Non-conference: No non-conference games.
Conference tournament: Reduced from the usual six teams to four and will be hosted at one site.
MAC (W)
Conference: Double round robin of five home and five away games beginning March 5. Must play six of 10 games to qualify for the MAC’s automatic qualifier to the NCAA tournament. Champion determined by win percentage for conference schedule.
Non-conference: At each institution’s discretion up to the NCAA limit.
Conference tournament: None.
MPSF (W)
Conference: Each team is playing the other two twice. The schools must get a waiver to travel or follow their varying California county policies.
Non-conference: Up to discretion of each institution. Most playing schedules heavy loaded with Pac-12 teams. “We had to cut some of our trips,” UC Davis coach Suzanne Isidor said. “Based on how things are going and other people’s abilities, most of us are staying on the West Coast or going to Midwest. We don’t have any East Coast teams really coming out here.”
Conference tournament: Fresno State will host April 30-May 1.
NEC (M)
Conference: Seven-game schedule with April 27 and May 1 open to reschedule any postponements.
Non-conference: Some institutions have limited the number. To help with scheduling more games, the conference opened March 2 and 6 to schedule with NEC teams that will not count toward conference standings.
Conference tournament: Top four teams meet the second weekend of May.
NEC (W)
Conference: Split into two geographic pods with crossover to make 12 games. Games start March 6 and run through April 24. The following week is reserved for possible make-up games.
Pods: Saint Francis, LIU, Mount St. Mary’s and Wagner are one pod. Bryant, Central Connecticut, Merrimack and Sacred Heart are the second pod.
Non-conference: Institutions can play as many as five before March 6.
Conference tournament: Top four teams play May 4-6.
PAC-12 (W)
Conference: Ten total conference games, five home and five away, which is the usual. “Honestly, it has made it easier,” USC coach Lindsey Munday said. “We didn’t have to go through how to navigate the home-and-home or split into regional pods like some conferences. It was kind of business as usual. It was just trying to navigate out-of-conference games.”
Non-conference: Up to each institution’s discretion to work toward the NCAA maximum. Some schools have a 400-mile driving limit radius, while others will allow flights. USC has one East Coast trip. Games begin Feb. 13.
Conference tournament: Stanford will host the top six teams Apr 29-May 3.
PATRIOT LEAGUE (M)
Conference: Seven games with teams split into two pods. Four games count in standings. Navy, for instance, will play Loyola twice but only one meeting counts toward the standings. They’ll also cross over to play Army and Holy Cross.
North pod: Army, Boston University, Colgate and Holy Cross.
South pod: Bucknell, Lafayette, Lehigh, Loyola and Navy. Conference play starts Mar. 6 and there’s a built-in weekend for make-up games.
Non-conference: Up to each institution’s discretion to schedule. Games begin Feb. 20.
Conference tournament: Top two teams from each pod qualify for the tournament May 7-9.
PATRIOT LEAGUE (W)
Conference: Seven games with teams split into two pods. Four games count in standings. Teams will play three teams in their pod twice and one team once. Teams have one bye week, as well as a week that could be used for make-up games. The conference schedule starts March 6.
Pods: American, Bucknell, Lehigh, Loyola and Navy are in one pod. The other pod has Army, Boston University, Colgate, Holy Cross and Lafayette.
Non-conference: Up to the discretion of each institution to schedule to the maximum. “They’ve been trying to work with us in terms of protocols and testing and what other teams are doing and allowing us the freedom to put games in,” Loyola coach Jen Adams said. “We have a pretty solid out-of-conference schedule which starts for us Feb. 20 against Syracuse.”
Conference tournament: May 6-8 with top two teams from each pod. The usual quarterfinals have been eliminated.
SOUTHERN CONFERENCE (M)
Conference: Single round robin like previous years. “We’ll be ready to adapt if needed,” Richmond coach Dan Chemotti said. “Hopefully this plan stays.”
Non-conference: Up to individual institution’s discretion.
Conference tournament: Top four teams expected to play at Richmond on May 6-8.
SOUTHERN CONFERENCE (W)
Conference: Single round robin like previous years. “We’re lucky we’re in the South,” Mercer coach Samantha Eustace said. “It’s a little different down here. It’s also different when you’re near big cities. It’s much harder than it is for us.” Mercer will fly up and back the same day to play its furthest SoCon opponent, Delaware State.
Non-conference: Up to individual institution’s discretion. “You’re trying to get games,” Eustace said. “You don’t want to play the same teams four times. Some conferences are playing the same teams three times. I don’t know how that helps with COVID.”
Conference tournament: Top four teams will play at Mercer on April 29-May 1.