With the 2016 NCAA lacrosse tournament field set, the road to the Final Four in Philadelphia begins Saturday, with two straight days of non-stop lacrosse on ESPNU. Last season, the Denver Pioneers edged out Maryland 10-5 to earn their first ever Division 1 title. And this year could turn out to be very similar, as Maryland & Denver are both favored to meet up for a much-anticipated rematch at Lincoln Financial Field on Memorial Day. However, there’s a long way to go until the Final Four and there’s plenty of title hopeful teams looking to take make a championship run of their own.

10 Duke Blue Devils @ 7 Loyola (MD) Greyhounds | Saturday, 12 pm

These teams faced off on March 12 in Loyola, and Duke absolutely dominated in a 15-6 victory. The Blue Devils’ All-American senior midfielder Myles Jones was a man amongst boys in that game, scoring five goals and dishing three assists, while outstanding junior FOGO Kyle Rowe won 19 of 24 faceoffs. Since then, Loyola finished the year on an eight game winning streak and won the Patriot League title over Army 14-6. Meanwhile, Duke comes in winning three of their last four after suffering an ACC tournament loss to Syracuse 14-8. This was supposed to be Duke’s year for another title, but they have been wildly inconsistent all season, even with their talented first midfield line of Jones, senior All-American Deemer Class, and junior Jack Bruckner. Duke’s top middy line tends to play almost the entire game and sometimes get burnt out towards the end of the fourth quarter, which could be a factor if this is a close game. Loyola is one of the hottest teams coming into the tournament, led by “diaper dandy” freshman attackman Pat Spencer, who is fourth in the nation in points with 70 (30 goals, 40 assists). These teams have come a long way since their meeting in March, and this game will be much more competitive this time around if Loyola can stop FOGO Kyle Rowe at the faceoff X.

11 North Carolina Tar Heels @ 6 Marquette Golden Eagles | Saturday, 2:30 pm

Nobody expected very much from UNC this season after they lost All-American attackmen Jimmy Bitter & Joey Sankey. However, they’ve been a bit of a surprise this year, with wins over Duke and an upset win over Notre Dame in the ACC tournament before falling to Syracuse in the title game, 10-7. Marquette struggled against good opponents all year long, losing 16-1 at Duke and 8-7 at Notre Dame. They ended the season on a shocking upset victory in a comeback over Denver for their first Big East championship in only their fourth year as an official program. UNC’s senior attackman, Steve Pontrello, will have a difficult matchup going against Marquette’s Liam Byrnes (sr), who is tied for fourth in the NCAA in takeaways with 32. Also, Marquette’s sophomore FOGO Zach Melillo has been playing extremely well against good competition lately while UNC’s junior Stephen Kelly’s face-off win percentage has dropped from 63 percent to 58.5 percent over his last four games. UNC has a number of playmakers on the offensive side of the ball, but Marquette’s lockdown defense and patient offense could continue their Cinderella story into the NCAA tournament.

12 Johns Hopkins Blue Jays @ 5 Brown Bears | Saturday, 5 pm

Arguably the most shocking story of the lacrosse year has been the play of the Brown Bears. Head coach Lars Tiffany runs a fast-paced, “ShowTime” style of offense where every shot is a good one and you can never get enough of them. It’s worked so far, as they lead the nation in goals/game with 16.75, almost three more goals per game than second place Denver. The top offense in the nation is led by arguably the best player in the nation, Dylan Molloy, who is first in the NCAA in goals, points and assists. His 106 points on the year are 25 more than second place Kylor Bellistri who had 81…and also plays for Brown. Not only does Brown have the top offense in the country, but they arguably have the best goalie as well in Jack Kelly, who has an otherworldly 61.9 save percentage (first in NCAA). Johns Hopkins has a formidable attack duo of its own, in All-American senior Ryan Brown and sophomore Shack Stanwick, who handle most of the Blue Jays’ offensive output. Hopkins was a somewhat controversial pick to be in the tournament, as they lost to Rutgers twice this season, including a 14-12 loss in the Big 10 tourney. Hopkins made it as a bubble team at 8-6 while Rutgers was snubbed with a record of 11-5. This game should be a high-scoring affair, but Brown’s FOGO Will Gural is top three in the country with a win percentage of 69.5, and will be the difference maker in this game.

14 Air Force Fighting Falcons @ 3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish | Saturday, 7:30 pm

Notre Dame comes into the tournament having lost two of their last three, including an early ACC tournament loss to Duke, as their once dominant defensive unit looks out of sync. On the flip side, the Fighting Falcons come in riding a 15-game winning streak, including a win over Duke in late March and capturing a SoCon title over Richmond. The big matchup to watch will be Notre Dame’s senior All-American attackman Matt Kavanagh, going against Air Force’s top defenseman, senior Alex Warden. The Irish offense is run through Kavanagh with his pass-first style, constantly looking to feed fellow attackmen Mikey Wynne & Ryder Garnsey and give them easy chances to get shots off. In net, Notre Dame’s junior goalie Shane Doss has been on fire all year long, only allowing 93 goals this season (second in NCAA) and has been aided by defensive leader, senior All-American Matt Landis. But, Air Force has a lights-out goalie of their own in Doug Gouchoe, who posts a 7.03 goals against average (third in the NCAA) and has been a brick wall over the second half of the season. I think this game will come down to Air Force’s ability to match Notre Dame’s offensive output. Air Force might control possession throughout the game at the faceoff X, but Notre Dame’s potent big four (Kavanagh, Wynne, Garnsey, Perkovic) should be able to get the job done.

16 Quinnipiac Bobcats @ 1 Maryland Terrapins | Sunday, 12:30 pm

After a tough 1-2 start to the season, the Terrapins are one of the hottest teams coming into the tournament after ripping off 13 straight wins, which ended in a Big 10 title. Head coach John Tillman runs a very slow-paced, methodical offense, and wants every possession to end in a quality shot. Maryland’s offensive style has been productive lately behind the play of junior attack tandem Matt Rambo & Colin Heacock. Senior Bryan Cole and sophomore Connor Kelly highlight two talented midfield lines that are essentially interchangeable as a 1A-1B combination. Their defense is anchored by All-American goalie Kyle Bernlohr and the unit plays very disciplined team defense, only allowing 7.33 goals/game. The Terps will face off against the MAAC champs, Quinnipiac, who have won nine straight including a win over Hartford 14-9 in the preliminary round of their very first NCAA tourney action. The Bobcats have the goalie to match Maryland’s All-American play with junior Jack Brust, who had 18 saves against Hartford and a 58 save percentage this season (third in NCAA). Quinnipiac is playing very unselfish team lacrosse, and goalie Jack Brust will be a challenge in net for the Terps, but Maryland has too much firepower to be upset this early.

15 Towson Tigers @ 2 Denver Pioneers | Sunday, 3 pm

Denver’s hopes at a repeat title look very strong as they have one of the most prolific offenses in the country yet again. The Pioneers had a much tougher schedule than usual this season, and fared very well against elevated competition with wins over Duke, UNC and Notre Dame. Their offense is run through All-American attackman Connor Cannizzaro, who led the team with 67 points (44 goals, 23 assists) this year. Junior midfielders Zach Miller & Tyler Pace highlight an excellent first line, but the real key to Denver’s success has been the play of their sophomore All-American FOGO Trevor Baptiste. Baptiste is winning face-offs at a rate of 68.1 percent with his physical and relentless style at the faceoff X, giving Denver’s explosive offense a potent advantage in possession time. After winning the CAA title, Towson steamrolled Hobart 18-5 in the preliminary round behind junior attackman Ryan Drenner’s four goal performance. He led the team with 47 points this year, but the entire attack unit played very well together to create easy scoring opportunities for one another. The Tigers are led by their all-senior defensive unit backed by senior goalie Tyler White, who has a 56.1 save percentage on the year. Towson’s defense matches up well with Denver’s attack, but the difference will be the Pioneer’s dominant face-off specialist, Trevor Baptiste, who seems to always shine in tournament time.

13 Navy Midshipmen @ 4 Yale Bulldogs | Sunday, 5:15 pm

Another surprise team from the Ivy League this year, Yale started the season 10-0 before losing back-to-back games at Brown and versus Albany. The Bulldogs eventually went on to win the Ivy League title over Harvard 14-9 behind their very formidable defensive unit. Junior Christopher Keating is constantly creating takeaways (tied fourth in NCAA with 32) while senior All-American Michael Quinn anchors the unit and can neutralize just about any team’s top attackman. The Bulldogs offense is somewhat of a one-man show as sophomore Ben Reeves is the catalyst at attack and had 73 points this year (third in NCAA). Navy plays a very similar, defensive style of lacrosse, and are tops in the nation in goals against average, allowing a lowly 6.93 goals per game. Navy’s defense is anchored by the play of their incredible senior goalie, John Connors, who has only allowed 96 goals this year (third in NCAA) and had two games where he only allowed one goal. Navy’s offense is not very flashy, but they are evenly distributed in terms of players who can score at middy & attack, and senior attackman Patrick Keena is always looking to feed his teammates. This will be a slow-paced, defensive showdown, and will ultimately come down to whose goalie and defense can stay in the zone longer as the game progresses.

9 Albany Great Danes @ 8 Syracuse Orange | Sunday, 7:30 pm

Most people thought both of these programs were due for down years after the Thompson brothers left Albany and Syracuse graduated a very talented senior class. They faced off at the beginning of the season where Syracuse cruised to a 16-7 victory at home. The Orange come into the tournament on a five game winning streak after capturing the ACC title over UNC. Their offense has been clicking during that stretch, averaging 13.6 goals a game and are led by an excellent attack unit and first midfield line. All-American senior Dylan Donahue runs the show at attack and junior midfielder Nick Marino has been able to create shots from outside with a team-leading 34 goals on the year. Albany also had an impressive streak of their own, winning eight straight games (including a 14-13 win over Yale), before suffering a devastating loss to Hartford in the American East tourney. Sophomore Connor Fields and junior Seth Oakes are responsible for almost all of Albany’s offense, with 42 and 43 goals respectively on the year. The big factor in the game will be the play of the Albany’s senior goalie Blaze Riorden against the constant attack of Syracuse’s offense, as well as Albany hoping to control Syracuse’s junior All-American FOGO Ben Williams.

MY PICKS: Duke, UNC, Brown, Notre Dame, Maryland, Denver, Navy, Syracuse