MARYLAND vs. AlBANY - GAME OF THE WEEK

12:00 - College Park, MD (watch on Big Ten Network)

In one of the biggest regular season match-ups in recent memory, #1 Albany travels to College Park to take on #2 Maryland.

The Great Danes are led by two attackmen who can light up the stat sheet, Senior Connor Fields and Freshman Tehoka Nanticoke. The two combined for 20 points on Tuesday's dominant win over UMass, and according to AnalyticsLacrosse.com they account for over 80% of the Great Danes scoring this season. 

On the other side, Maryland's offense has been a little more balanced, but the centerpiece is without a doubt senior midfielder Connor Kelly.  Kelly had one of the best performances of the season this past Saturday when he racked up 10 points against a tough Notre Dame defense in a 12-10 win. He had 7 assists, which was 4 short of his entire total for 2017 (when he was a 1st Team All American). 

This game will probably come down to the last possession, which means we should see a great battle at the face-off X. Albany's TD Ierlan has been doing his best Trevor Baptiste impression this season, winning 91% of his draws. That includes a perfect 24-for-24 (!) performance on Saturday against Cornell. Maryland's Justin Shockey will have his hands full, but the freshman should be confident after a dominant 15-for-22 showing against Notre Dame. Look to Maryland's entire face-off unit, including All-American LSM Matt Neufeldt, to try to limit Ierlan and make it a 3-on-3 ground ball. 

Coach Doss's Prediction: 13-12 Maryland in OT

Coach Hopper's Prediction: 16-11 Albany

PRINCETON vs. RUTGERS - GAME OF THE WEEK

1:00 - Princeton, NJ (Go watch it live!)

In our second game of the week, the battle for New Jersey is on as #13 Rutgers takes on Princeton right in our backyard! Rutgers is 4-1 and coming off a big 2-goal win over a resurgent Brown team, while Princeton took down another Jersey program on Saturday with a 15-8 win over NJIT. 

This game will likely come down to Princeton's offense (ranked 13th in adjusted efficiency) and Rutgers defense (ranked 9th). More specifically, it comes down to a match-up of two All-Americans, as Rutgers senior defenseman Michael Rexrode will most likely be tasked with guarding Princeton sophomore attackman Michael Sowers. Sowers has been unstoppable so far, averaging just under 6 points per game - he will look to feed fellow sophomore Phillip Robertson, who has now scored 8 goals on just 11 shots.

Princeton has struggled mightily at the face-off X, with no player averaging over 42%. Look for Rutgers senior FOGO Alex Schoen (Millburn, NJ) to have a big day.  

Coach Doss's Prediction: 11-9 Rutgers

Coach Green's Prediction: 16-13 Rutgers

Coach Hopper's Prediction: 10-6 Rutgers

SYRACUSE vs. HOPKINS

1:00 - Syracuse, NY

Cuse bounced back from an early season beatdown at the hands of Albany with two straight wins over ranked opponents, coming back to beat Army in OT and then edging out a back-and-forth game against Virginia on Sunday. Hopkins has struggled against ranked opponents, losing to both Loyola and UNC by a combined 9 goals, and needs a win here to help their out of conference resume. Neither team has a go-to guy yet on offense - whoever breaks out in this game could set the tone for the rest of the season. 

Coach Doss's Prediction: 15-11 Syracuse

Coach Green's Prediction: 15-13 Syracuse

Coach Hopper's Prediction: 13 - 12 Hopkins