The quest for the NCAA men’s lacrosse championship begins in earnest this weekend. In truth it is already underway, with Jacksonville and Marist claiming opening-round victories Wednesday night against Robert Morris and Stony Brook, respectively. But now we embark on the round of 16, which in most cases represents a final opportunity for the higher seeds to play in front of their home fans.
Below is a quick guide to the weekend’s Saturday and Sunday action. As mentioned, the games will take place on the home campuses of the eight seeded teams, with the winners advancing to one of two quarterfinal sites next weekend in Hempstead, New York, and Newark, Delaware.
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NCAA lacrosse tournament schedule
Saturday
No. 3 North Carolina vs. Albany, noon ET
No. 8 Penn State vs. Army, 2:30 p.m. ET
No. 7 Cornell vs. Johns Hopkins, 5 p.m. ET
No. 4 Richmond vs. Duke, 7:30 p.m. ET
Sunday
No. 2 Notre Dame vs. Jacksonville, noon ET
No. 1 Princeton vs. Marist, 2:30 p.m. ET
No. 6 Syracuse vs. Yale, 5 p.m. ET
No. 5 Virginia vs. Georgetown, 7:30 p.m. ET
How to watch the NCAA lacrosse tournament
All games can be seen on ESPNU, and are available for streaming on the ESPN app.
Top players in NCAA lacrosse tournament
The five finalists for the Tewaaraton Award were announced earlier this week, and unsurprisingly all will be in action this weekend. In a bit of a departure from past seasons, this year’s list includes a defenseman, Notre Dame’s Shawn Lyght. But not unlike the Heisman, the award nearly always goes to a scorer, and indeed the remaining finalists can be found on the attack. They include North Carolina’s Owen Duffy, Willem Firth of Cornell, Princeton’s Nate Kabiri, and Joey Spallina of Syracuse.
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Best NCAA lacrosse tournament first-round matchups
Considering how integral both Johns Hopkins and Cornell have been to the history of the sport, it’s almost unfathomable that the two programs haven’t met on the field at any point since the 1987 national championship game. But that is indeed the case as the Big Red open the defense of their 2025 title against the Blue Jays in Ithaca, New York. Cornell didn’t fare so well on the same field a week ago in its most recent outing against Princeton in the Ivy finale, but JHU is also coming off a decisive loss in the Big Ten title game against Penn State. In addition to Firth, the Cornell attack features veteran Ryan Goldstein. The Blue Jays get much of their offensive production from the first midfield unit, led by All-America selection Matt Collison.
Speaking of Penn State, the Nittany Lions played their way to a home game by winning the Big Ten title but drew arguably the toughest assignment of the hosting teams. Army has rattled off seven wins in a row since a one-goal loss to North Carolina on March 28. Difference-makers in this contest include Army midfield standout Evan Plunkett and veteran Penn State defenseman Alex Ross.
Then there are a pair of intriguing contests in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Richmond, a first-time host in the round of 16, will square off against a rested Duke squad. The Blue Devils missed the ACC tournament but won their regular-season finale against North Carolina and got enough results to go their way during conference championship week to edge into the at-large pool. ACC tourney winner Virginia, meanwhile, was somewhat surprisingly elevated to the No. 5 seed despite its six regular-season losses, though the Cavaliers have a difficult assignment regardless against perennial Big East power Georgetown.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NCAA lacrosse tournament bracket, schedule: Previewing the first round
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
