(Photo: Penn Athletics)
Welcome to week one of the 2020 NCAA lacrosse season, y’all.
After two weeks of the season, almost every team across the landscape has suited up for real, except for the Ivy League and a couple of northern teams that will start this week. So with every team having played at least one game after this weekend, you can say the season is officially in full swing.
Week two technically started earlier this week with Army beating NJIT on Monday and Bellarmine and Hampton and Stony Brook and Saint John’s battling it out on Tuesday night. But this week really gets underway on Friday night as Richmond and Marist kick off what will be a full weekend slate.
Lacrosse Bucket has what you need to know heading into week one of the college lacrosse season with some storylines to follow below.
Ivy League Teams Begin Play
As previously mentioned, there are some teams that open up their season this weekend, and the most notable group is the Ivy League. All of the Ivy League programs except Harvard start their season on Saturday. The Crimson open up next Saturday at UMass.
The 2019 NCAA runner-up Yale Bulldogs begin their 2020 season against a very familiar foe on Saturday in Villanova. The Bulldogs have opened up against the Wildcats for the past three seasons, including an overtime loss in Dallas, Texas at the Patriot Cup in 2018. Villanova took down Yale 11-10 last season, as well.
Defending Ivy League champion Penn will open up their season against the Maryland Terrapins, once again. Maryland edged Penn in overtime last season, but the Quakers ended up going on the longest winning streak last season and winning the Ivy League and making it to the NCAA Quarterfinals, where they lost to Yale in overtime.
Elsewhere in the Ivy, Brown will open up on the road against Quinnipiac, Dartmouth will open at Merrimack, Princeton will host Monmouth in a New Jersey battle, and Cornell will travel to Albany in a game that marks the season opener for both squads.
New Look Irish
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will open up their 2020 season on Saturday as they host Cleveland State, who is searching for their first win of the season and of the Andy German era. Well, the Irish are looking to start off a new era on the right foot, as well.
The Irish lost longtime defensive coordinator Gerry Byrne who took the head coaching job at Harvard. Offensive coordinator Neil Hutchinson joined Byrne on his inaugural staff after just one year at Notre Dame, as well.
So with two new faces on the sideline in defensive coordinator Ryan Wellener and offensive coordinator Chris Wojick, the Irish look to keep the continuity going. They ended the 2019 season on a strong note with a win over Johns Hopkins in the first round of the NCAA tournament, but lost in the quarterfinals to Duke.
Their opening game against Cleveland State should’t offer too much insight as to how strong the Irish will be this season, but it will be the first real look we have at how the Irish look after a lot of changes over the offseason. Their first test will come in week three when the face Richmond, who beat Notre Dame 9-8 last season.
Games to Watch
As always, there are multiple games that you need to circle coming into week two of the season.
Yale-Villanova and Penn-Maryland have already been mentioned, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In West Point, N.Y., Army will host Rutgers in a game the features two offenses that have produced at leas 18 points per game through their first two games of the season. The Black Knights and Scarlet Knights both haven’t allowed many goals, either.
Additionally, rivals Loyola and Johns Hopkins will face off in the Battle of Charles Street, Virginia will host Lehigh in what could be a high scoring affair, and Denver will host Duke in a contest that saw the Blue Devils win 10-9 last season.
Week One Schedule
| Date | Away | Home | Notes | Time | Watch/Stream |
| 2/14 | Marist | Richmond | 6:00 PM | ESPN + | |
| 2/15 | Michigan | Hofstra | 11:00 AM | LSN | |
| 2/15 | Rutgers | Army | 12:00 PM | Stadium | |
| 2/15 | Sacred Heart | Bucknell | 12:00 PM | ||
| 2/15 | NJIT | Delaware | 12:00 PM | ||
| 2/15 | Drexel | High Point | 12:00 PM | ESPN + | |
| 2/15 | VMI | Manhattan | 12:00 PM | ||
| 2/15 | Penn | Maryland | 12:00 PM | BTN + | |
| 2/15 | Furman | Navy | 12:00 PM | Stadium | |
| 2/15 | Lafayette | North Carolina | 12:00 PM | ACC Network | |
| 2/15 | Saint Joseph’s | Penn State | 12:00 PM | BTN + | |
| 2/15 | Mount St. Mary’s | Towson | 12:00 PM | ||
| 2/15 | Cornell | Albany | 1:00 PM | Watch ESPN | |
| 2/15 | St. Bonaventure | Bellarmine | 1:00 PM | GLVC Sports Network | |
| 2/15 | Stony Brook | Fairfield | 1:00 PM | ||
| 2/15 | Siena | Hobart | 1:00 PM | HWS All-Access | |
| 2/15 | Wagner | LIU | Not counted as an NEC game | 1:00 PM | NEC Front Row |
| 2/15 | Jacksonville | Marquette | 1:00 PM | Golden Eagles All-Access | |
| 2/15 | Dartmouth | Merrimack | 1:00 PM | NEC Front Row | |
| 2/15 | Cleveland State | Notre Dame | 1:00 PM | ACC Network Extra | |
| 2/15 | UMass | Ohio State | 1:00 PM | BTN + | |
| 2/15 | Monmouth | Princeton | 1:00 PM | ESPN + | |
| 2/15 | Bryant | Providence | Ocean State Cup | 1:00 PM | Friars All-Access |
| 2/15 | Quinnipiac | Brown | 1:00 PM | ||
| 2/15 | Hartford | St. John’s | 1:00 PM | ||
| 2/15 | Boston University | UMass Lowell | 1:00 PM | ||
| 2/15 | Yale | Villanova | 1:00 PM | Nova Nation All-Access | |
| 2/15 | Lehigh | Virginia | 1:00 PM | ACC Network Extra | |
| 2/15 | Vermont | Holy Cross | 1:05 PM | ||
| 2/15 | Duke | Denver | 2:00 PM | Denver Stream | |
| 2/15 | Binghamton | Syracuse | 2:00 PM | ACC Network | |
| 2/15 | Air Force | Utah | 2:00 PM | Pac-12 Plus | |
| 2/15 | Robert Morris | Canisius | Victor, N.Y. | 3:30 PM | |
| Johns Hopkins | Loyola | 3:30 PM | Stadium | ||
| 2/15 | Georgetown | UMBC | 3:30 PM | UMBC Stream |
