James Madison beat North Carolina 15-14 in double overtime in its season opener. Two weeks later, the Tar Heels topped reigning national champion Maryland 16-15 in overtime for its lone loss thus far this season.

The Terps then handed previously unbeaten Penn its first loss, 13-7, on Thursday.

Now, only three undefeated teams remain standing in Division I women’s lacrosse – No. 1 Stony Brook, No. 2 James Madison and No. 4 Boston College.

This Saturday, No. 2 JMU and No. 3 Maryland will battle it out. Will the Terps break another team’s hot streak, or will the Dukes prove it deserves their No. 2 ranking?

NO. 2 JAMES MADISON AT NO. 3 MARYLAND
WHEN: Saturday, March 24, 12 p.m.
WATCH: BTN Plus

Since the UNC upset, James Madison has defeated only one other Top 20 team, 14-12 against then-No. 20 Penn State on March 7. Meanwhile, Maryland has downed four Top 20 opponents – Florida 16-14, Syracuse 18-11, Johns Hopkins 15-5 and most recently Penn.

The Dukes are off to their best start in 30 years at 8-0 and are one win shy of tying the program record, which was set during the 1988 season when they started out 9-0. A victory over Maryland would be significant, especially when they felt they were slighted during preseason rankings. They entered 2018 at No. 17 in the Nike/US Lacrosse preseason Top 20 and No. 16 in the IWLCA coaches’ poll.

“I don’t think they saw the resilience and fire we have,” JMU senior defender Rebecca Tooker said. “We know that we’re so much better than the numbers that are on paper. I think they overlooked how good of a team we actually are.”

As of March 21, James Madison has the No. 4 scoring offense in Division I and No. 5 scoring margin, the latter which can be attributed to a balanced effort between its defensive front and offensive firepower. Maryland is comparable with the No. 1 scoring offense and No. 4 scoring margin, while also sitting third in draw controls per game.

Both teams also have comparable attackers in Dukes senior Kristen Gaudian and Terps senior Megan Whittle. Gaudian is second in both overall shot and free position percentages and fourth in free position goals per game. Whittle is first in free position goals per game and fifth in free position percentage.

Saturday’s game will reveal how well these two teams actually match up. Maryland leads the all-time series 40-3. The last time JMU toppled the Terps was during back-to-back seasons in 2002 and 2003 by one goal each time. Before then, the Dukes won in 1976, 11-4.

“Finishing the game is going to be a huge test for us,” Dukes senior midfielder Haley Warden said.

Other games highlighting the weekend include:

• No. 6 North Carolina at No. 4 Boston College
  Saturday, 12 p.m., ACC Network Extra
  
  The Tar Heels and Eagles square off in a pivotal ACC matchup Saturday. Boston College is one of three remaining unbeaten teams in Division I, sitting comfortable with an 11-0 record. The Eagles recently tallied a 13-9 win over Yale after trailing by one at halftime to secure the longest win streak in program history. UNC is on a three-game win streak, dominating Virginia, Elon and Northwestern by a combined score of 43-23 in a rebound effort since falling to Florida by seven. The Tar Heels will be hungry for its second ACC win of the year, while the Eagles aim to keep their perfect record in tact. Carolina leads the all-time series 15-2.

• No. 13 USC at No. 20 Stanford
  Sunday, 4 p.m., Pac-12 Networks
  
  Since gaining the top spot in the Pac-12 with an 8-7 overtime win over Colorado on March 16, followed by one more overtime victory over Oregon two days later, USC looks to hold strong against fellow conference foe Stanford. Entering the season, USC and Stanford were the favorites to lead the Pac-12 having combined to win 11 of 14 MPSF titles before joining the power five conference. Both teams are 5-3 overall, while in conference, USC is 3-0 and Stanford is 2-1. They also both compete Friday night – USC against Cal and Stanford against Arizona State. If both emerge victorious, the Cardinal, which boasts the No. 5 scoring offense, could even the playing field with a win Sunday.

More Games On Our Radar

All times are listed in ET. For a full list of broadcast games, please visit our US Lacrosse TV listing page, presented by Nationwide.

FRIDAY, MARCH 23

8 p.m.

No. 13 USC at Cal (Cal Live Stream)
No. 15 Colorado at Oregon (Pac-12 Networks)
Michigan at No. 12 Northwestern (BTN)

9 p.m.

Arizona State at No. 20 Stanford (Stanford Live Stream-2)

SATURDAY, MARCH 24

12 p.m.

No. 1 Stony Brook at UMass-Lowell (AmericaEast.TV)
No. 5 Florida at Georgetown (Fox College Sports)
No. 8 Loyola at Lehigh (Service Electric 2 Sports, Patriot League Network)
Denver at UConn (HuskyVision)

1 p.m.

No. 10 Syracuse at Notre Dame (ACC Network Extra)
No. 11 Navy at Bucknell (Patriot League Network)
Dartmouth at No. 16 Princeton (Ivy League Network)
No. 18 Virginia Tech at Elon (Elon Live Stream)
Yale at Cornell (Ivy League Network)

3 p.m.

Brown at No. 7 Penn (Ivy League Network)

4 p.m.

No. 9 Virginia at Duke (ACC Network Extra)

SUNDAY, MARCH 25

11 a.m.

Harvard at Columbia (Ivy League Network)

12 p.m.

Delaware at Bryant (NEC Front Row)

3 p.m.

Arizona State at Cal (Pac-12 Networks)