A lot of fanfare is made about the beginning of NCAA basketball and football seasons in the summer and fall respectively. Often overlooked by mainstream audiences are sports like Hockey, Baseball and lacrosse. Baseball and Hockey are pretty much only shown to a national audience during their respective post season tournaments. But college lacrosse (as of late) is more visible than ever.
It may still be winter, but some NCAA spring sports are starting up this week. Baseball may be America’s past time, but the college sport I care the most about is lacrosse. That’s because (on top of my work for thefatherlife) I write about professional and college lacrosse for Inside Lacrosse Magazine.
There has never been a better time to get on the lacrosse bandwagon. Don’t worry; I won’t judge you for getting in on it while it’s hot. Lacrosse is the fastest growing sport in the U.S. (at the youth level) and gets more and more national media coverage every season. In 2008 ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU broadcast just under fifty Division I games. Last year, they upped it to just under sixty games. This season, they have fifty-seven games on tap as well as (for the fourth year in a row) every NCAA tournament game.
Some of the key games this season include: defending champion Syracuse at Virginia on March 6th, North Carolina at Duke on March 10th, Syracuse at Johns Hopkins on March 20th, Johns Hopkins at Virginia (ESPN2) on March 27th, Virginia at Maryland on April 3rd, Navy at Maryland on April 10th and Cornell at Princeton on Mat 1st. All of these games can be seen nationally.
The Syracuse Orange are the two-time defending national champions. They beat Johns Hopkins 13-10 in 2008 and won a 10-9 barnburner in overtime over Cornell last season. Clearly, they are the team to beat to start the year. But, teams like Duke, Virginia, Hopkins and Cornell (as well as many others) will be vying for their shot at national championship.
CHRIS OSBURN’S NCAA LAX POWER RANKINGS
1. Syracuse
2. Duke
3. Virginia
4. Johns Hopkins
5. Cornell
6. North Carolina
7. Maryland
8. Princeton
9. Hofstra
10. Notre Dame
11. Navy
12. UMBC
13. Harvard
14. Loyola
15. Georgetown
16. Brown
17. Umass
18. Albany
19. Bucknell
20. Denver
21. Ohio State
22. Villanova
23. Towson
24. Penn State
25. Delaware
Check out ESPNU’s schedule for this season to a find some games you may want to check out:
| Date | Time (ET) | Game |
| Fri, Feb 19 | 5 p.m. | Manhattan at Johns Hopkins |
| Tue, Feb 23 | 5 p.m. | Delaware at Johns Hopkins |
| Sat, Feb 27 | Noon | Hofstra at Princeton |
| 2 p.m. | Maryland at Georgetown | |
| Sun, Feb 28 | Noon | Siena at Johns Hopkins |
| Sat, Mar 6 | 11 a.m. | Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic: Duke at Maryland |
| 1:30 p.m. | Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic: Princeton vs. Johns Hopkins | |
| 4 p.m. | Syracuse at Virginia (ESPN360.com) | |
| Sun, Mar 7 | 12:30 a.m. | North Carolina at UMBC |
| Tue, Mar. 9 | 11:30 p.m. | UMBC at Johns Hopkins |
| Wed, Mar. 10 | 4 p.m. | Towson at Johns Hopkins (women) |
| 7 p.m. | North Carolina at Duke | |
| Sat, Mar 13 | 11 a.m. | Towson at Maryland |
| 2 p.m. | Georgetown at Syracuse | |
| Sat, Mar 20 | 2 p.m. | Maryland at UMBC |
| 8 p.m. | Syracuse at Johns Hopkins | |
| Sun, Mar 21 | Noon | Virginia at Towson |
| Sat, Mar 27 | Noon | Johns Hopkins at Virginia (ESPN2) |
| Noon | Duke at Georgetown | |
| 2 p.m. | Maryland at North Carolina | |
| Sun, Mar 28 | 2 a.m. | Towson at Loyola (Md.) |
| Sat, Apr 3 | Noon | North Carolina at Johns Hopkins |
| 8 p.m. | Virginia at Maryland | |
| Sat, Apr 10 | Noon | Navy at Maryland |
| 2 p.m. | Albany at Johns Hopkins | |
| 4 p.m. | Konica Minolta Big City Classic: North Carolina at Virginia | |
| 6:30 p.m. | Konica Minolta Big City Classic: Princeton at Syracuse | |
| Sun, Apr 11 | Noon | Notre Dame at Georgetown |
| Sat, Apr 17 | Noon | Georgetown at Loyola (Md.) |
| 4 p.m. | Smartlink Day of Rivals: Navy vs. Army | |
| 6:30 p.m. | Smartlink Day of Rivals: Maryland vs. Johns Hopkins | |
| 8:30 p.m. | Duke at Virginia | |
| Sun, Apr 18 | 6 p.m. | Syracuse at Rutgers |
| Sat, Apr 24 | 11 a.m. | ESPNU Warrior Lacrosse Invitational: Massachusetts vs. Georgetown |
| 1:30 p.m. | ESPNU Warrior Lacrosse Invitational: Denver vs. Fairfield | |
| Sun, Apr 25 | 5 p.m. | Penn State at Towson |
| Wed, Apr 28 | 7 p.m. | Towson at Johns Hopkins |
| Sat, May 1 | Noon | Hartford at UMBC |
| 5 p.m. | Cornell at Princeton | |
| 7 p.m. | Syracuse at Notre Dame | |
| Sun, May 2 | Noon | Ohio State at Johns Hopkins (women) |
| Sat, May 8 | Noon | Johns Hopkins at Loyola (Md.) |
2010 NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship Coverage on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU
| Date | Time (ET) | Game | Network |
| Sat, May 15 | Noon | NCAA First Round – Game 1 (TBD) | ESPNU |
| 2:30 p.m. | NCAA First Round – Game 2 (TBD) | ESPNU | |
| 5 p.m. | NCAA First Round – Game 3 (TBD) | ESPNU | |
| 7:30 p.m. | NCAA First Round – Game 4 (TBD) | ESPNU | |
| Sun, May 16 | Noon | NCAA First Round – Game 5 (TBD) | ESPNU |
| 2:30 p.m. | NCAA First Round – Game 6 (TBD) | ESPNU | |
| 5 p.m. | NCAA First Round – Game 7 (TBD) | ESPNU | |
| 7:30 p.m. | NCAA First Round – Game 8 (TBD) | ESPNU | |
| Sat, May 22 | Noon | Quarterfinal # 1 – Princeton, N.J. | ESPNU |
| 2:30 p.m. | Quarterfinal #2 – Princeton, N.J. | ESPNU | |
| Sun, May 23 | Noon | Quarterfinal #3 – Stony Brook, N.Y. | ESPNU |
| 2:30 p.m. | Quarterfinal #4 – Stony Brook, N.Y. | ESPNU | |
| Sat, May 29 | 4 p.m. | Semifinal #1 – M&T Bank Stadium (Baltimore) | ESPN2 |
| 6:30 p.m. | Semifinal #2 – M&T Bank Stadium | ESPN2 | |
| Mon, May 31 | 3:30 p.m. | NCAA National Championship – M&T Bank Stadium | ESPN |
*Also check your local TV listings for teams in your area. Syracuse, Hobart and RIT (D-III) are shown often where I live.
30 year old freelance writer and The Father Life‘s resident beer columnist and sports editor. He also writes about fine beverages for drinkingmadeeasy.com and Chilled Magazine. On top of that, he writes about college and professional lacrosse for insidelacrosse.com. He’s also written for Genesee Valley Parenting Magazine, the Democrat and Chronicle Newspaper and ESPN.com. “Osburn on Tap” appears monthly in THE FATHER LIFE. For questions, comments, or if you have a story idea for Chris, throw him an email cosburn@thefatherlife.com. Also, follow him on twitter http://www.twitter.com/chrisosburn