The Winter That Could Change the Sport?

The 2026 edition of the college lacrosse season is underway. Over the past two weekends, multiple teams have opened their seasons, while multiple others have had their scheduled openers pushed indoors, or even cancelled due to the blistering weather that has hit the east coast. All but 15 Division 1 programs have played a game so far in 2026, and the remainder will begin this coming weekend.

The first college lacrosse game this season was on January 30th, the earliest start ever. I am not going to sit here and write about how the season started too early, lacrosse is a winter sport, we need to play into mid-June. The sports calendar opens up significantly once college football and NFL wind down in late January. College lacrosse beginning early February has been here for years and it is the perfect time to draw eyes to the sport of those who have nothing else to watch. What we saw happen the first two weeks of the season was out of the ordinary – especially for early February.

In order for me to spin this into a positive light and a potential change moving forward first let us go back to Friday, January 30th. Delaware played Utah in the season opener inside of a ~ 80-yard field house in Newark at 12pm. The following weekend multiple games were either cancelled or moved indoors. Indoor games don’t bother me here, what I think is a big opportunity for the sport is the schedule that came from it. Games were played from 11am – 9:30pm on Saturday and from 12pm – 9pm on Sunday. The current viewing experience of college lacrosse is much different from other college sports who have games and TV slots usually from 12pm-Midnight. College lacrosse’s slate usually runs from 12pm through 4pm with the majority of games at noon. If we get lucky, Denver or Air Force will play at four or five.

The noon slate on Saturdays have become saturated and I believe there is a true opportunity for further expansion if teams and ADs would simply go against the norm and think outside the box that is 12pm-4pm. The Big Ten plays one game a week on Sundays – which used to be Sunday at 7pm. There are no Big Ten Sunday Night games in 2026. The ACC randomly has teams play Friday nights and Sunday afternoons. There truly is not a “prime time” slot that lacrosse fans can look to each week and watch the best game each weekend. I think that needs to change.

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Moving along to what we cannot change for 2026 is the schedule that we were given. This coming weekend boasts the largest slate so far this year. All of the Division 1 teams are in action from Friday to Sunday. Saturday’s slate is 29 games: 2 at 11am, 16 at noon, 6 at 1pm, and 5 others beginning from 1:30-3:30. A mostly tight Saturday of games, but the weekend is highlighted by a #1 vs #2 matchup in the dome on Friday night. Maryland and Syracuse are my two frontrunners this spring and they come in at the top spots in my early February top-20.

2026 Early February Top-20

1. Maryland
2. Syracuse
3. Princeton
4. Cornell
5. Georgetown
6. UNC
7. Notre Dame
8. Ohio State
9. Richmond
10. Army
11. Duke
12. Penn State
13. Virginia
14. Johns Hopkins
15. Harvard
16. Towson
17. Michigan
18. Rutgers
19. Jacksonville
20. Denver

Once again, three conferences dominate in the rankings. The Big Ten, ACC and Ivy League combine to make up 14 of the top 20 teams in the country. You can almost guarantee that the National Champion will come from one of those three conferences. Since Denver’s run in 2015, the National Championship matchup has been teams from the Big Ten, ACC and Ivy League. Georgetown, Army and Richmond are the three teams that look the most likely to break that trend after 10 years. I’ll dive quickly into them after previewing the top contenders this spring. Here is what to watch for this spring in college lacrosse.

Conference Rundown

Big Ten

Maryland brings back their dominant defense (with a new goalie) and welcomes in a few impact transfers on the offensive side. They are the favorite in the Big Ten and I do not think it will be close. Ohio State unfortunately lost top defender Bobby Van Buren to a torn ACL last week, but the thought was their defense would allow them to contend with anyone. The rest of the conference sits in bubble territory. Hopkins fans are optimistic but I do not expect too much from them. They graduated too much on the defensive end and do not have the offensive support for Collison/Chauvette.

ACC

After bringing everyone back from last season’s Final Four team, Gary Gait and Joey Spallina need to find a way to get Syracuse back over the hump. North Carolina will be a pesky thorn in their side throughout the season but do not have the experience yet to contend. Notre Dame is going to struggle to finally replace the Kavanaghs (and Jordan Faison). Duke is young and fun; I could see them catching a groove early on with a favorable schedule. Virginia’s offense can take them back to being a top-20 team, but can their defense make stops?

Ivy League

The Princeton offense is one of the most dangerous units in the country. They have a middle of the field unit that pushes in transition and is fun to watch. Cornell graduates CJ Kirst but has Ryan Goldstein lurking in the shadows. Going to take a lot for them to repeat yet even get back to Memorial Day Weekend. I have heard fun things about the Harvard offense that will greatly miss Sam King this spring. Dartmouth is a dark horse once again to continue their rise. Do not be surprised when they pull a big upset.

The Best of the Rest

Georgetown went out this offseason and added talent through the portal with the Connor twins. If they can find some offensive support, the Hoyas might be able to make a late run. Anderson Moore in cage and Ty Banks as a lock down defender present a challenge for opposing offenses.

Richmond had their best season in program history last season but they graduated a lot of talent. It will be interesting to see how they replace a solid goalie and faceoff guy. Their offense brings back a lot and has a lot to like. They will be tested in their first month with Virginia, Cornell and Georgetown.

Army has failed to make two straight tournaments despite holding the #1 ranking at some point the last two seasons. Gunnar Fellows and the Plunketts are so much fun to watch offensively and it always seems like Army can lock it in on defense. The question is can they finally win the Patriot League? Boston U, Colgate and Loyola will be in contention for the AQ as well. Army did not do themselves too many favors in getting an at large bid with their schedule.

Towson is undefeated in CAA play the past two seasons, and they bring back a lot of that success in 2026. Mikey Weishaar is one of the top players in the country. The Tigers will be a fun team to watch this year. Fairfield should also contend in the CAA but Towson has a 3-peat in mind.

Each new year provides an interesting challenge in seeing how teams adapt and adjust based on the talent departures and additions. I would say for this reason the first month or four games of the season are the most important. Conferences are judged on their out of conference record. Teams are judged on these games on selection Sunday. Some teams schedule tune-ups, others schedule the top teams in the nation. Luckily for us, there are a few top-20 matchups this coming weekend.

Weekend Preview

#1 Maryland @ #2 Syracuse – Friday, 6pm

I will never complain about the top two teams in the country playing in February. I expect this to be the National Championship this spring. Syracuse was shut down by Maryland in the Final Four last year. Both teams are very similar. I think this game will come down to the wire.

#12 Penn State @ #3 Princeton – Saturday, 12pm

Hunter Aquino will be asked to do a lot in this game because of how fast Princeton’s high-powered offense is going to play. I see a lot of goals in this one and I don’t think Penn State has the offensive support this year to hang with the top teams.

#13 Virginia @ #9 Richmond – Saturday, 12pm

Led by new assistant coach Connor Shellenberger, Virginia scored assisted goals on 17 out of 19 last weekend. They have the tools to light up the scoreboard. With a lot of defensive departures, I expect to see some rust on that end for Richmond.

Loyola @ #14 Hopkins – Saturday, 12pm

The Battle of Charles Street never disappoints. Loyola struggled last year with youth, but looked decent last weekend against the Terps, putting up 10. Hopkins needs to lean on more than Collison and Chauvette offensively. Hopkins Freshman goalie Dash Lamitie has been impressive so far.

#4 Cornell @ Albany – Saturday, 1pm

Cornell brings back a host of players from their national championship team last year, but lose a few BIG offensive weapons. Albany has a lot of hype behind them this season. Silas Richmond is an all-American. Max Neeson is a great cover defenseman but he can’t cover the entire offense at once. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Albany keep it close.

It seems like we finally are going to have a weekend without cancellations, without games moving indoors. College lacrosse is back and we have a few awesome games to watch this weekend.