📺 HOW TO WATCH UVA-NOTRE DAME & MORE

ACC supremacy will be determined this Saturday.

The Virginia Cavaliers (6-1) will visit the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (6-0) for a battle at Arlotta Stadium. Two weeks ago, Notre Dame leapfrogged Virginia for the No. 1 spot in The People's Top 20. The fans who voted in that poll were partially justified when the Cavaliers fell to Maryland in overtime last Saturday.

Those same fans will deserve a victory lap, if Notre Dame wins this weekend.

These two teams have playmakers all over the field — you've heard plenty about the Kavanagh Brothers and Connor Shellenberger — but the real difference-makers in this one will be standing in between the pipes. Notre Dame has a legitimate stud at goalie in Liam Entenmann (.602 SV%, 7.5 GAA), while Virginia has a struggling sophomore in Matthew Nunes (.497 SV%, 11.6 GAA).

If Nunes is not seeing the ball well on Saturday, pressure will mount on Virginia's offense to outscore the Irish. Maryland's defense held Shellenberger to just one goal and two assists last week; the Hoos will need more out of him against Notre Dame.

For broadcast info on this game and others, scroll to the bottom of this newsletter. In the meantime, here are a few other notable lacrosse headlines...

🪄 UNC Pulls Off Perfect Hidden Ball Trick

The North Carolina Tar Heels (6-3) have been up and down so far this season, but everything was clicking for them in a 16-9 win over High Point on Wednesday night. They even ran a hidden ball trick to perfection.

Here's the moment in GIF form:

[Click here to watch the moment with sound]

First things first: Bravo to the camera crew. We can't tell you how many great lacrosse moments are lost forever because the camera operator couldn't follow the play. This was an extremely difficult moment to track, and ACC Network nailed it.

Clearly, High Point's goalie was not as plugged into the play. His reaction was a display of utter defeat, and thus...a meme is born:

This play will go down in history, but was it better than Joel Tinney's famous hidden ball trick from 2017?

🔥 Battle For Patriot League Heating Up

The Patriot League hasn't produced a National Champion since Loyola's run in 2012, but the conference is off to an interesting start this season. There are currently three Patriot League teams represented in The People's Top 20, and it's tough to tell which one will ultimately come out on top.

Here's where they stand heading into the weekend...

No. 10 Army (6-1): No one expected Army to be a contender after sending Brendan Nichtern to the PLL, but they've won six in a row since falling to UMass in the season opener. That includes a big-time conference win over Lehigh on the road last weekend.

No. 11 Loyola (5-2): The Greyhounds beat Maryland and Johns Hopkins to start the season, but they've gone 3-2 since then. Both of their losses came against top-five teams (Rutgers and Duke) on the road, though. They'll get a crack at Army when they visit West Point this weekend.

No. 18 Boston U (6-1): Just like Army, Boston U is on a six-game winning streak after dropping the season opener to Vermont. On Tuesday, the Terriers beat Harvard for the first time since 2017. Maybe that's a sign that this year's team is a little different...

🧐 The Curious Case of Sam Handley

Heading into the season, Penn midfielder Sam Handley was expected to dominate. He's still the No. 1 prospect in the 2023 PLL Draft, but his team is 3-3 and his prominence at the collegiate level seems to have wained a bit.

For example, USA Lacrosse Magazine named Handley the Division I Preseason Player of the Year back in January. Fast forward to today, and that same outlet has not mentioned him in the Tewaaraton Award race for weeks. The most recent update includes a close defenseman (Maryland's Brett Makar) and two goalies (Entenmann and Syracuse's Will Mark) — but no Handley.

Penn may be a .500 team, but Handley is directly responsible for two of the team's three wins with his overtime goals against St. Joe's and Princeton. If the Quakers make it out of the Ivy League and into the NCAA Tournament, watch out for Handley because he'll have something to prove.

🇯🇵 Behind The Scenes: PLL vs. Japan

The PLL has returned from its trip to Japan, and we have the all-access vlog on our YouTube. Check it out here:

Michael Sowers, Romar Dennis and Rob Pannell were among the PLL stars who made the trip and played in the exhibition game. Turns out Team Japan has some serious ballers, too. That's great news for those who want to grow the game.

📺 Weekend TV/Streaming Info

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

Friday, March 24:*No Division I men's games*

Saturday, March 25:11 a.m. — Hampton at Drexel (FloSports)12 p.m. — Loyola at Army (ESPN+)12 p.m. — Duke at St. Joe's (ESPN+)12 p.m. — Fairfield at Towson (FloSports)12 p.m. — Lehigh at Georgetown (FloSports)12 p.m. — Navy at Holy Cross (ESPN+)12 p.m. — Mercer at Jacksonville (ESPN+)12 p.m. — Boston U at Lafayette (ESPN+)12 p.m. — Merrimack at UMBC (AmericaEast.tv)12 p.m. — Stony Brook at Monmouth (FloSports)12 p.m. — Mount St. Mary's at Wagner (Wagner All-Access)12 p.m. — Providence at North Carolina (ACCNX)12 p.m. — Virginia at Notre Dame (ESPNU)12 p.m. — Albany at Vermont (ESPN+)12 p.m. — Queens at Bellarmine (ESPN+)1 p.m. — Cleveland State at Robert Morris (ESPN+)1 p.m. — Bucknell at Colgate (ESPN+)1 p.m. — Hobart at Syracuse (ACCNX)1 p.m. — St. Bonaventure at Marquette (FloSports)1 p.m. — NJIT at Binghamton (ESPN3)1 p.m. — Yale at Princeton (ESPN+)1 p.m. — Richmond at St. John's (ESPN3)1 p.m. — Brown at UMass (ESPN+) 2 p.m. — Lindenwood at Air Force (YouTube)2 p.m. — Siena at LIU (ESPN+)3 p.m. — Delaware at Hofstra (FloSports)3 p.m. — Marist at Quinnipiac (ESPN3)4 p.m. — Harvard at Dartmouth (ESPN+)5 p.m. — Penn State at Maryland (BTN)6 p.m. — Bryant at UMass Lowell (ESPN3)7 p.m. — Johns Hopkins at Michigan (BTN)

Sunday, March 26:12 p.m. — Penn at Cornell (ESPNU)7 p.m. — Rutgers at Ohio State (BTN)