🥍 COLLEGE LACROSSE IS BACK!

Congratulations! You made it to the 2025 NCAA men’s lacrosse season, and your team is undefeated…for now.

For a crash course on what to expect this season, this newsletter will predict the winner of each conference and highlight six candidates to win this year’s Tewaaraton Award. But first, here’s how you can watch all the D1 action this weekend…

Saturday, Feb. 1
11 a.m. — Manhattan at Wagner (No stream link)
12 p.m. — Air Force at Lafayette (ESPN+)
12 p.m. — Bellarmine at Duke (ACCNX)
12 p.m. — Bucknell at Merrimack (ESPN+)
12 p.m. — Loyola at Georgetown (FloSports)
12 p.m. — Mercer at Hampton (FloSports)
12 p.m. — Navy at High Point (ESPN+)
12 p.m. — Hofstra at Iona (ESPN+)
12 p.m. — Holy Cross at Providence (FloSports)
12 p.m. — Jacksonville at Syracuse (ACCNX)
12 p.m. — Rutgers at Lehigh (ESPN+)
12 p.m. — Richmond at Maryland (BTN+)
12 p.m. — Mount St. Mary’s at Queens (No stream link)
12 p.m. — Utah at Ohio State (BTN+)
1 p.m. — Colgate at Penn State (BTN+)
1 p.m. — Marquette at Michigan (BTN+)
2 p.m. — Johns Hopkins at Denver (Midco Sports Plus)

Sunday, Feb. 2
11 a.m. — VMI at St. Bonaventure (No stream link)

Will Florida eventually add a D1 men’s team? Reply to this email with a school you want to see add lacrosse!

🔮 Predicting Conference Champions

With the return of the NEC this season, there are now 11 conferences in NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse. The winner of each conference tournament (except for the ACC) automatically qualifies for the NCAA Tournament in May

Here’s who I’m picking to win each conference…

ACC: Notre Dame. Losing Pat Kavanagh and Liam Entenmann is tough, but the Irish still have a loaded returning cast. It’s Chris Kavanagh’s turn to take center stage.

America East: Albany. Remember the name Silas Richmond. The junior out of British Columbia is one of the most creative scorers in the country.

ASUN: Utah. The Utes have won this conference two years in a row. Returning ASUN Player of the Year Ryan Stines had 67 points as a sophomore last season.

Atlantic 10: St. Joe’s. This one is tough. Richmond was voted preseason No. 1 in the conference, but I’m rolling with the Hawks because D/LSM Levi Verch is an animal.

Big East: Georgetown. Don’t be fooled by Denver’s run to Championship Weekend last year; the Hoyas have won this conference five seasons in a row.

Big Ten: Hopkins. The Blue Jays have legitimate candidates for the best midfielder (Matt Collison) and the best defenseman (Scott Smith) in the country.

CAA: Towson. The Tigers were tied for the second best record (13-4) in college lacrosse last season. Midfielder Mikey Weisshaar is a stud playmaker.

Ivy League: Cornell. All eyes are on CJ Kirst. Will he make it back to Championship Weekend in his final season with the Big Red?

MAAC: Sacred Heart. The Pioneers are looking to build on recent success after going undefeated (9-0) in conference play a season ago.

NEC: Robert Morris. This conference is back in action after a two-season hiatus. Three of the eight teams in the NEC were competing at the D2 level before 2020 (LIU, Le Moyne, Mercyhurst).

Patriot League: Army. This conference is a gauntlet, but the Black Knights have enough top-tier players to break through the competition this year.

💪 Tewaaraton Award Favorites

Like it or not, the Tewaaraton is an offensive award. More specifically, it’s an attackman award. Only four midfielders have ever won the award, and the most recent one was 15 years ago.

With that understood, here’s my Tewaaraton “Top Six” heading into the 2025 season (they’re all attackmen)…

1. CJ Kirst, Cornell

2. Chris Kavanagh, Notre Dame

3. Joey Spallina, Syracuse

4. Coulter Mackesy, Princeton

5. McCabe Millon, Virginia

6. Owen Duffy, North Carolina

Kirst and Kavanagh are the two primary contenders. Kirst is probably a better all-around player, but Kavanagh is the best player on the best team. The biggest difference is Kirst is used to having the No. 1 defenseman covering him, while Kavanagh is stepping into Notre Dame’s QB1 role this year. They’ll both put up a ton of points.

Spallina and Mackesy have the potential to make this a three- or four-horse race. Spallina leads a surging Syracuse team and had more points in 2024 than any other returning player. Mackesy is a dynamic lefty who could gain momentum if Princeton solidifies itself as a Championship Weekend contender.

Millon and Duffy are two outside candidates to wind up in the mix as sophomores. Millon has received the keys to Virginia’s offense after leading all freshmen with 66 points last season. Duffy carried an underwhelming UNC team on his back as a freshman; the Tar Heels need him to do even more in 2025.

📆 PLL Announces 2025 Schedule

The Premier Lacrosse League announced its 2025 regular season schedule this week. Each of the eight teams get a homecoming weekend, with the New York Atlas hosting the season-opener in Albany on May 30-31.

The two neutral sites are Fairfield (a regular stop on the PLL tour) and Chicago, which the league has not visited since the inaugural season in 2019. The games in Chicago will be played at Northwestern’s Martin Stadium, which was also recently selected to host the 2026 NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse Championship.

PLL postseason dates and locations are still to be announced. Here’s the full regular-season schedule…

📍 May 30-31 — Albany, NY
📍 June 6-7 — Charlotte, NC
📍 June 13-14 — Philadelphia, PA
📍 June 21-22 — Baltimore, MD
📍 June 27-28 — San Diego, CA
📍 All-Star Weekend — (TBA)
📍 July 11-12 — Chicago, IL
📍 July 18-19 — Fairfield, CT
📍 July 26-26 — Salt Lake City, UT
📍 Aug. 1-3 — Denver, CO
📍 Aug. 8-9 — Boston, MA

👀 See INSIDE Hopkins’ Historic Facility

Visiting the Johns Hopkins lacrosse facility is like stepping into the Lacrosse Hall of Fame. The building is littered with championship trophies, individual accolades and photographs of legends like Paul Rabil and Kyle Harrison.

The TLN crew recently visited the campus at Johns Hopkins to produce this facility tour presented by STX.

Let Russell Melendez and Chayse Ierlan guide you through the historic hallways of the Cordish Lacrosse Center and sacred grounds of Homewood Field. Keep your eyes peeled at the 7:21 mark. If you notice who the film room is named after, reply to this email with the answer! 👀