Good news: There’s lacrosse this weekend.

Good (or bad) news: It’s literally supposed to rain all across the east coast this weekend and in Denver. So that’s a bummer.

Bad news: Next week is the end of the college lacrosse season.

However, four teams will have their seasons end this weekend in either Hempstead or Annapolis in games that should be absolutely entertaining. Any one of these eight teams left can win the whole thing. I just hope we don’t have four huge blowouts and all this talk was for nothing.

Before we begin, let’s see what the bracket looks like:

Only two unseeded teams (Denver and Cornell) made the quarterfinals. Two teams (Albany and Yale) have never won an NCAA national championship (I’m not counting Yale’s 1883 title). Six of the eight teams left have made an appearance in Championship Weekend in the past five years (Albany and Yale haven’t been to one in that span). Just some fun facts to throw out there.

Anyway, I’ll be at all four quarterfinal games in Hempstead and Annapolis. Thanks to everyone that had food recommendations as well. I’ll be sure to document my experiences this weekend in various ways. Expect some probably bad food reviews.

I already previewed the two Hempstead games of Loyola-Yale and Denver-Albany. So let’s move on to Sunday’s games and the Annapolis region.

ANNAPOLIS REGION (MAY 20): Cornell Big Red vs. #1 Maryland Terrapins (Noon, ESPNU)

Annapolis opens up with the top seed Terrapins taking on a stud in Jeff Teat and the Big Red.

Players to Watch

• Jeff Teat, A, Cornell: Without his season, would Cornell be in this game? The answer is probably not. However, Teat has been face-guarded two of the past three games and his scoring and passing impacts have been limited. But Peter Milliman has found ways to use Teat as a pick setter. In his last four games, he only has two goals and eight assists. He had no points in the first of those games, a loss to Princeton, but had a goal and five assists in the Ivy League Championship against Yale when he wasn’t really face-guarded. The best plan for Maryland is to face-guard Teat, because Cornell hasn’t really adjusted to playing without him, and have gotten lucky in their games against Brown and Syracuse. He should’ve also been a Tewaaraton finalist. #FreeJeffTeat
• Connor Kelly, A (but listed as a midfielder, that’s a whole separate discussion), Maryland: A definite Tewaaraton finalist, but as a midfielder. Which is odd because he never leaves the field and midfielders never do that. Attackmen do. And he does everything. Need him to score? Done. Need him to dodge? Got it. Need him to feed? Bingo. He’ll probably be defended by a stud in Jake Pulver in this game. Pair him up with guys like Jared Bernhardt and Logan Wisnauskas at attack, as well as Bubba Fairman and Tim Rotanz up top and this Terp offense hasn’t really missed a beat since last year.
• Clarke Petterson, A, Cornell: If Teat gets shut down again, the rest of the Big Red offense will need to step up to the plate. One guy that did last week was Petterson, who found his way past Syracuse’s defense around the crease and tied his career-high of five goals in their win over the Orange. Curtis Corley is a very good defenseman if Bryce Young gets Teat duties, so it’ll be another tough task for the junior out of Canada.

• Justin Shockey, FOGO, Maryland: Outside of Kelly, there’s not really a player that stands out as a “wow” kind of guy. They’re all good, including goaltender Dan Morris. But I’m gonna go with Shockey for the second Maryland player. Shockey has become the Terps’ top FOGO this season, with a 52.9% face-off percentage and 58 ground balls. Cornell’s top FOGO, Paul Rasimowicz, has not played since the Brown game in the regular season. There’s a chance he could return for the Maryland game, as he was seen in uniform last week against Syracuse and took some practice face-offs. Freshman Luca Tria and sophomore defenseman Brandon Salvatore went a combined 6-of-22 against Syracuse, which isn’t good. Getting Rasimowicz would make it a tougher battle for Shockey.

Things to Watch

The big thing is what will Maryland do to Teat? Will they faceguard him (and if so, with who) or won’t they? I think they should because Milliman has yet to really adjust to the faceguarding tactics. They just play without him, and it’s worked so far. But I think this is the best defense the Big Red will face with the faceguard implemented.

Another thing to watch are both team’s defensive midfielders. They’re not total studs, but they’ve been able to do the job recently. Cornell’s middies had a good outing against Syracuse as well as against Yale, and Maryland has some young guys on that unit. I give the edge to Maryland since their offensive midfielders are very good.

History

Cornell and Maryland have met 14 times in the past, with the Terrapins leading the series 14-3. They lost to the Big Red in the 1971 and 1976 National Championship games, as well as in the First Round back in 2013. Their last meeting was in 2014, when Maryland edged Cornell by a goal, also in the First Round.

Prediction

According to Lax Vegas Lines, Maryland is a two goal favorite over Cornell. The over/under for goals is 23.5.

I don’t think the Big Red have shown that they can play against a dominant defense with Test shut off. Young, Corley, and Jack Welding, as well as their long poles, are a very strong unit. Petterson, Connor Fletcher, Colton Rupp, and other young guys have to step up in order to win. I just don’t think that happens.

Pick: Maryland 12, Cornell 8.

For all our coverage this weekend, be sure to follow College Crosse on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And be sure to follow me on Twitter as well for my journeys this weekend!