College Lacrosse Schedule for March 1, 2014

There are 31 games today. 31! 62 schools will be in action (93 percent of Division I), many facing vital opportunities to help shape their season and ceiling. Most importantly, 90 percent of today's circus will close by mid-afternoon, a compressed force of light that could be weaponized and used for nefarious purposes if it falls into the wrong hands. There hasn't been a weekend like this since late last season, a monstrosity of a day that defines college lacrosse's unique purpose.

To get prepared for Saturday's insanity, these pieces should probably grace your eyeballs and head melon:

• March's First "Super Saturday"
• Bryant and Breakthrough Wins
• Digging Into Drexel's One-Goal Madness
• THE FACEOFF: Week 4 (February 26 - March 4)

Here are your three highlights for today:

• The Noon Window: Today's noon window is basically a birthday party at a petting zoo with a clown making balloon animals while people sit under a shady chicken wing tree drinking craft beer from the beer well. Nine games will face-off at noon and six are gigantic tilts: Albany hosts Harvard in an attempt to put a number in the win column; Georgetown and Hofstra will square off in what could be a tire-iron fight; Loyola makes its first trip to Bethlehem as a Patriot League member to face a Lehigh team that is starving for a marquee win; Johns Hopkins and Princeton will do their thing at Class of 1952 Campground, presumably under the watchful eye of various boards of directors; Duke and Maryland will throw hands in an early season meeting of top-ranked teams; and Notre Dame will attempt to pivot from its loss to Penn State last week against North Carolina. This is May-caliber lacrosse on the first day of March.
• Syracuse v. Virginia: It takes a special day of lacrosse to subordinate 'Cuse-'Hoos behind other huge matchups. The Orange and Cavaliers will meet for 30th time in their decorated histories, once again tangling as top 10 teams. The series is virtually deadlocked at 15-14 in favor of Virginia, but the Cavaliers have owned the rivalry in recent seasons, taking eight of the last 11 regular season meetings between the two teams. Both programs are thirsty for a win tonight at Klockner, although the Orange probably need a victory more than Virginia at this point. I'm not sold that this is going to be a blur of action, but there is strong potential that this game could feature explosive lightning from both teams at the offensive end.
• The 1:00 Window: The bulk of the day will find its volition starting at 1:00 with 17 games starting around brunch. The names in this window aren't as deep and prominent as those in the noon window, but there are a handful of intriguing brawls that deserve extra attention: Massachusetts' trip to Brown is ripe with issues for the Minutemen if Massachusetts doesn't come correct against Bruno; Yale and Bryant is going to feature one of the better face-offs duels of the day, pitting Dylan Levings against Kevin Massa; Bucknell and Colgate will wrestle in an increasingly important Patriot League game in Hamilton; Marquette and Marist has juice from a curiosity standpoint and could serve as a valuable result for both teams as the season progresses; Penn State-Ohio State is a big spot for (1) the Buckeyes as Ohio State is still searching for a quality win, and (2) the Nittany Lions as Penn State continues to operate on the razor's edge in terms of creating a resume for NCAA Tournament participation; and Denver's trip to Pennsylvania will showcase an offensive nightmare against a defensive soul-crusher. These are the good times, people.

Here's Saturday's full schedule. If there are errors, please let me know. I'll fix/populate links to live stats and video as the day progresses (if necessary).

This is your open thread for Saturday. Cheese puffs are the worst kind of snack. People will be around to yak about whatever is tickling their fancy.

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