Outside of the Patriot and ACC Tournaments happening this weekend, there are plenty of games in college lacrosse that matter to many teams trying to keep their seasons alive. Here are some games to keep an eye on:
Saturday
St. John’s vs. Georgetown: 11:30 AM
Georgetown is in the Big East Tournament, St. John’s is not. St. John’s needs to win and Villanova to lose to Providence in order to get in. I don’t think St. John’s pulls off the upset against a Hoya team that is trying to stay in the NCAA Tournament picture. They are one of the last teams in the tournament according to many bracketology articles. A win helps that case for Georgetown in the tourney. Pick: Georgetown.
Mercer vs. Richmond: 12 PM
The winner of this game gets to host the SoCon Tournament next week, as both teams have a conference record of 5-0. After a slow start out of conference, Mercer has gained all of their wins this year inside conference play. Richmond has built a schedule that gives them experience, with opponents such as St. Joe’s, Rutgers, Marquette, UNC, and Virginia on their schedule. With that kind of out-of-conference schedule, you have to favor the Spiders. Pick: Richmond.
Princeton vs. Cornell: 1 PM
Brown vs. Dartmouth: 1 PM
Yale vs. Harvard: 4 PM
Brown could either host the Ivy League Tournament or be out of it completely. If Brown loses, they fall to 3-3 in Ivy play along with Penn. But here’s the catch: Penn defeated Brown earlier in the season and thus would win the tiebreaker, most likely ending Brown’s tremendous season. If Princeton loses and Brown wins, Brown hosts the tourney. A Princeton win have the Tigers host the tourney. Got all of that? Hopefully. Picks: Cornell, Brown, Yale.
Drexel vs. Towson: 1 PM
Delaware vs. UMass and Hofstra vs. Fairfield are all on Friday, so this could be an intriguing game to watch. If UMass and Hofstra win Friday, and Drexel knocks off Towson, five out of six teams (sorry winless Delaware) will have records of 3-2. Oh my. No wonder why some people call it the THUNDERDOME! Pick: Drexel.
Penn State vs. Michigan: 6 PM
Plain and simple here: winner gets the final seed in the Big Ten tourney, loser has their season end. With high expectations early in the season, Happy Valley isn’t happy with their lacrosse team. They travel to the Big House in Ann Arbor, where the Wolverines are budding. Pick: Michigan.
