Noon (EST) on ESPNU – #1 Penn State will crush #51 UMBC. There’s little more to say about this game.
2:30 PM (EST) on ESPNU – #6 Maryland travels 50 minutes up I-95 to play #11 Towson. Despite their 2-game losing streak, both to Hopkins, Maryland will be ready. The better question is which Towson team will show up at Johnny U Field. The Towson that beat Hopkins and Loyola in February (which was a long time ago) or the Towson team that lost to UMass in April (which is less of a long time ago). Towson has all the assets to beat Maryland. The question is, will they?
5:00 PM (EST) on ESPNU – #4 Duke plays #23 Richmond at Duke. Richmond is one of the teams that perennially beats a UNC, Duke, UVA, Notre Dame, or some other ACC team in February and the lacrosse world goes hoarse from screaming, Parity! The operand word in this sentence being in February. This’ll be a better game than PSU-UMBC but make no mistake, Duke will beat Richmond handily.
7:30 (EST) on ESPNU – #9 Johns Hopkins travels to South Bend to play #8 Notre Dame. If you’re going to watch one game today, this is the game to watch. Notre Dame is a good team with several legitimate wins, a deserved #8 ranking, and… #9 Johns Hopkins is better, peaking at the right time, and will show this tonight.