Nineteen of the 20 teams in the USILA Division I poll are in action Friday night or Saturday, and seven of the 12 games involve two ranked teams facing each other.

The action begins tonight, when No. 18 Navy (3-2) visits No. 16 Lafayette. The Leopards have surprised the lacrosse world with a 4-0 start that includes victories over Fairfield and Penn.

On Saturday morning, don't sleep too late. No. 5 Maryland hosts Towson with an 11:00 a.m. ET start. That match will be carried on ESPNU and WMAR. You can get updates on most D1 (and many D2 and D3) games on the LAGR (Live Action Game Reports) page.

Among the many other Saturday games are these:

• No. 1 Virginia visits No. 8 Cornell.


• No. 2 Syracuse hosts No. 12 Georgetown (on ESPNU).


• No. 3 Notre Dame travels to Houston, Texas to face Fairfield


• No. 6 Princeton will host UMBC.


• No. 7 Johns Hopkins visits No. 10t Hofstra in an evening game.


• No. 9 Loyola entertains No. 10t Duke.

To see the full line-up of matches for any date or division, use the Game Calendar. Notes from Virginia and Syracuse follow.

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No. 1 Virginia Travels to No. 8 Cornell for Saturday Clash

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - After defeating No. 1 Syracuse on Sunday, 11-10, the Cavaliers are this week's consensus No. 1 team in the nation, receiving all No. 1 votes in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse media poll and USILA coaches poll. There is no rest for Virginia (5-0) competition-wise, as the Cavaliers travel to Ithaca, N.Y., to battle the No. 8 Cornell Big Red (4-0), Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. Faceoff is slated for noon and live stats will be available at VirginiaSports.com. UVa will look to avenge last year's 15-6 setback to Cornell in the NCAA Tournament semifinal round at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass.

Virginia holds a slim 5-3 advantage in the all-time series, however the Cavaliers are 2-0 when the series is played in the regular season. The two teams met for the first time during the 1971 regular season when UVa hosted the Big Red and were victorious 10-9. UVa's only previous trip to Ithaca, N.Y., was for the 1974 NCAA Tournament when Cornell topped the Cavaliers 15-8.

The regular season series was renewed last year when Virginia rode three goals apiece from Shamel Bratton and Steve Giannone with the Cavaliers winning 14-10 at Klöckner Stadium on March 8, 2009. Of the six other programs to win the NCAA title, Virginia has faced Cornell by far the fewest times.

Cornell head coach Jeff Tambroni enters his 10th season at the helm of the Big Red and returns 15 letterwinners and four starters from last season's squad that went 13-4, losing in the NCAA Tournament finals to Syracuse. The Big Red are led offensively by Ryan Hurley's 13 goals (15 points) and Rob Pannell's 10 assists (18 points). The Big Red were ranked No. 6 in both the Nike/Inside Lacrosse media and USILA coaches poll, but have fallen to No. 8 in both polls despite its perfect record. Strong starts and big wins by Maryland, Notre Dame and Princeton have catapulted those programs ahead of the Big Red in the polls.

The Big Red are most recently are coming off a convincing 19-4 victory over in-state foe Binghamton on Tuesday. Hurley tallied a game-high four goals, while Pannell chipped in three goals and three assists. Prior to Tuesday's win, the Big Red topped a tough Army squad, 12-11, on March 6.

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2010-03-12