Here's Everything You Need To Know Heading Into The Best Weekend Of The Year--College Lacrosse Championship Weekend
And then there were 4.
Memorial Day Weekend is here, baby. The sun is out, the sky is blue, the birds are chirping. Arguably the greatest weekend of the year. Because not only do we have the entire summer ahead of us, but we also get 3 more games of the college lacrosse season before crowning a new national champion.
It's the one weekend of the year that truly belongs to lacrosse. The lax rat group texts are firing on all cylinders. Even your friends who aren't lacrosse fans end up texting you about the games as they drop in to watch a couple quarters after flipping through the channels. We have both semifinal games on ESPN2 on Saturday, and then a national champion will be crowned on ESPN on Memorial Day. Huge weekend for the ol' stick and ball sport, and having the championship in Philly just adds a little something extra for all my fellow scumbags out there.
So here's what we have to look forward to this weekend.
Notre Dame vs Denver // Saturday, 12pm // ESPN2
Notre Dame has been head and shoulders the best team in the country this year. Every other team just ended up beating each other up all season. Notre Dame dropped just one game by 1-goal to Georgetown in February. Ever since then, they've kicked the shit out of damn near anybody. They steamrolled Virginia and Duke on the way to win the ACC title, took care of business against Albany in the 1st round of the tournament, and then got their revenge on Georgetown in the quarterfinals. They are reigning national champs, already have that comfortability with winning at Lincoln Financial Field, and have the best goalie on the planet.
Denver has also had a really solid season. I don't necessarily think they've beaten anyone that great since February, but they've done what they had to do to get to this point of the season. And that's by being bigger and tougher than most of the teams they've gone up against this year. Denver always stinks in the Big East tournament so they didn't win that. But they took care of a Michigan team that got hot towards the end of the season in the first round, and bullied Syracuse in the quarterfinals. Denver also won their only national championship at Lincoln Financial Field in 2015. That same year, they beat Notre Dame in the semifinals. So...if you're into history repeating itself, there's your play.
But at the end of the day, Notre Dame isn't going to be worried about being bullied by Denver out there. Notre Dame plays a tougher brand of lacrosse than anyone else in the country. They'll get put on their ass 13 or 14 times, but they just keep going. One of the best offenses in the game, great defense, and the best goalie in the country. Notre Dame is a juggernaut, and I have them playing on Memorial Day for the 2nd year in a row.
Maryland vs Virginia // Saturday, 2:30pm // ESPN2
So we have Notre Dame, who won the championship in 2023 playing in the first game. Maryland won the national championship in 2022, and Virginia won it in 2019 and 2021. So we have the past 4 national champions playing this weekend in Philly, with one of the best rivalries in the game closing us out on Saturday. Maryland beat Virginia in the quarterfinals in 2022 on their way to win the title, Virginia beat Maryland in the national championship in 2021, and beat them in the quarterfinals in 2019. So in 4 out of the last 5 years, one of these teams will end the other's season.
Maryland is weird because at no point this year did they really look like they'd be playing on Memorial Day Weekend. They aren't the same wagon that we've been used to seeing from the Terps. And that's mainly because they don't have a "guy" on offense this year. For so long, Maryland has had someone they could always count on to take over a game on offense wearing #1. They have like 5 or 6 guys who are all really solid this year, but nobody that is ever going to be the best player on the field. So it's been weird adjusting to this style of Maryland lacrosse, but they've just been getting the job done.
Virginia also isn't the same Virginia as we've been used to seeing. This is a team that would typically lose 3 or 4 games all year. This year, they lost 4 in a row right before the tournament got started. So they limped into the tournament, but are starting to get that old thing back right now. Connor Shellenberger can add a Tewaaraton Award to his resume if he gets himself another national championship this weekend, McCabe Millon isn't just the best freshman in the country but he's one of the best players in general. And this is an environment where a high scoring, shit talking menace like Payton Cormier can thrive. Add in the fact that Virginia's defense are all a bunch of 6'5" mutants and I think they're just too much for Maryland to keep up with. So give me Virginia booking another night in the hotel to play against Notre Dame on Monday.
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Now let's go ahead and have ourselves a weekend. ESPN2 on Saturday, ESPN on Monday. If you're at a bar, get it on. If you're on the beach, find a way to stream it. If you're going to be at Lincoln Financial Field this weekend, I'll see you there.