MARYLAND BEWARE 😨 THE IRISH ARE COMING

The weather is warming, the birds are chirping, and the lacrosse is FLOWING.

Ladies and gentlemen...THIS...IS...MARCH!

👀 Game of the Week: Notre Dame at Maryland

Maryland didn't have many close games while putting together a perfect, 18-0 record last season. Outside of the National Championship versus Cornell, only one team managed to stay within two points of the Terrapins: Notre Dame.

The Irish hosted Maryland in early March last year and fell by a final score of 11-9. Many fans wanted to see a rematch on a national stage, but we were denied that pleasure when the NCAA Selection Committee kept Notre Dame out of the tournament.

Nevertheless, here we are a year later, finally about to witness the rematch. These teams are a little different this time around; Maryland already has a loss, and Notre Dame didn't fool around in February. Still, there will be a hint of "unfinished business" in the air when these two teams meet at College Park on Saturday.

Matchup to Watch: Notre Dame's Kavanagh Brothers (Pat and Chris) versus Maryland defenders Brett Makar and Ajax Zappitello.

💥 CJ Kirst Crashes Tewaaraton Debate

When we first introduced the top Tewaaraton Award candidates in January, the quartet we chose consisted of Notre Dame's Pat Kavanagh, Virginia's Connor Shellenberger, Penn's Sam Handley and Duke's Brennan O'Neill. Many in the comment section brought up Yale's Matt Brandau, but hardly anyone (including us) showed love for Cornell's CJ Kirst.

That...was a mistake.

Kirst is on an absolute tear through three games this season. He's coming off an 11-point performance versus Hobart (7 goals, 4 assists) and has the Big Red looking like the team to beat in the Ivy League. USA Lacrosse Magazine recently named him the No. 1 candidate to win this year's Tewaaraton Award.

Next Challenge: Kirst must lead Cornell on the road at Ohio State, where two of the best close defensemen in the country — Marcus Hudgins and Bobby Van Buren — will be waiting.

😈 Brennan O'Neill Heard Your Chirps

Do you still think Brennan O'Neill is a bust? A vocal minority of nutjobs on the Internet were saying this before the season, and all O'Neill did was silence them with 28 total points (15 goals, 13 assists) in the month of February.

O'Neill has stepped up whenever Duke has needed him this season. Against Denver a couple weeks ago, he buried both the game-tying goal and the game-winning goal in overtime.

Even in Duke's only loss — a 13-12 defeat on the road versus Jacksonville — O'Neill produced a season-high five goals. He's consistently putting the team on his back, and that's a big reason why the Blue Devils are sitting at 4-1 right now.

Correcting The Record: O'Neill and Duke will visit Syracuse on Sunday, after dropping a 14-10 stunner at The Dome last season.

🤔 Will Virginia Stumble This Season?

Virginia is 3-0 and coming off a resounding 17-6 win over Ohio State at a neutral site in Naples, Florida last Saturday. Everyone is picking them to beat Richmond this weekend, but that's also the outcome everyone picked last year...

The Cavaliers went to Richmond in April of 2022 and ended up losing, 17-13. It was a physical game that the Spiders were able to control the entire second half. Might history repeat itself in Charlottesville on Saturday evening?

This year's Virginia team has massive expectations as an offensive powerhouse, and another letdown loss to Richmond would damage that reputation.

No. 1 Sharpshooter: Virginia attackman Payton Cormier has 15 goals on 24 shots this season for a .625 shooting percentage (best among NCAA Men's Division I players with at least 15 shots).

📺 Full Weekend TV & Streaming Info

All times Eastern (streaming links via Inside Lacrosse/USA Lacrosse Magazine):

Friday, March 312 p.m. — LIU at UMass Lowell (AmericaEast.tv)1 p.m. — Yale at UMass (ESPN+)4:30 p.m. — Vermont at Harvard (ESPN+)

Saturday, March 411 a.m. — Denver at North Carolina (ACCNX)11 a.m. — Manhattan at Bryant (ESPN3)11 a.m. — Monmouth at Mount St. Mary's (ESPN+)12 p.m. — Air Force at Mercer (ESPN+)12 p.m. — Cornell at Ohio State (BTN+)12 p.m. — Michigan at Delaware (FloSports)12 p.m. — Drexel at Sacred Heart (NEC Front Row)12 p.m. — Fairfield at Providence (FloSports)12 p.m. — Hobart at Robert Morris (ESPN+)12 p.m. — Villanova at Hofstra (FloSports)12 p.m. — Lehigh at Navy (ESPN+)12 p.m. — Marist at Bucknell (ESPN+)12 p.m. — Merrimack at Quinnipiac (Quinnipiac All-Access)12 p.m. — St. John's at Binghamton (ESPN+)12 p.m. — Brown at Stony Brook (LacrosseTV)12 p.m. — Towson at UMBC (AmericaEast.tv)12 p.m. — VMI at Bellarmine (ESPN+)1 p.m. — Canisius at Cleveland State (ESPN+)1 p.m. — Colgate at Boston U (ESPN+)1 p.m. — Georgetown at Princeton (ESPN+)1 p.m. — Lafayette at Loyola (ESPN+)1 p.m. — Notre Dame at Maryland (BTN+)1 p.m. — Wagner at NJIT (AmericaEast.tv)1 p.m. — Utah at Rutgers (BTN+)2 p.m. — Siena at Dartmouth (ESPN+)2 p.m. — Saint Joe's at Johns Hopkins (ESPN+)3 p.m. — Penn at Penn State (BTN+)6 p.m. — Richmond at Virginia (ACCNX)6:30 p.m. — Jacksonville at High Point (cselax.com)

Sunday, March 53 p.m. — Army at Holy Cross (ESPN+)4 p.m. — Duke at Syracuse (ACCNX)