Virginia men’s lacrosse opens season Saturday against Towson

We still don’t have a full, official schedule for the reigning NCAA Men’s Lacrosse champion Virginia Cavaliers, but we at least know when they will start their 2021 campaign. Per a schedule posted by the Towson Tigers, the Hoos will open the season at home on Saturday, February 6. You have to go all the way back to 2013 to find a season-opener where Virginia faced anyone other than Loyola.

According to Quint Kessenich’s Top-20 on Inside Lacrosse — where he has Virginia ranked No. 3 — the game will start at 4pm and will be broadcast by the ACC Network. If you don’t already have two screens, now might be the time to make the plunge as Virginia also hosts Louisville in men’s basketball at the same time (but on ESPN).

This is the 18th matchup between the two squads, with Virginia holding a 13-4 advantage over the Tigers. They haven’t met since March of 2010 when the Hoos racked up a 15-10 win in Towson.

Towson went 0-6 in the shortened 2020 season, losing to Johns Hopkins, Mount St. Mary’s, Cornell, Loyola, UMBC, and Georgetown. The Tigers return two of their top three leading scorers from last season in Brody McLean (nine goals, three assists) and James Avanzato (six goals, three assists).

Duke has already released its schedule, and it tells us that Virginia will host the Blue Devils on Thursday April 15. The ACC is having each member school play two other conference opponents twice this season to help round out schedules in the ongoing pandemic. Virginia will likely play Syracuse twice, along with a home-and-home with either North Carolina or Notre Dame.

We will keep an eye out for the full schedule and update as soon as we have more information!