MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.– The men's lacrosse team at the University of Minnesota will kick off off their 2019 campaign this weekend. Minnesota is slated to play 19 regular season games, the most played in a regular season. The schedule is highlighted by five teams ranked in the Preseason Under Armour MCLA Coaches Poll–Michigan State (No. 1), Chapman (No. 2), Virginia Tech (No. 5), Liberty (No. 6), and Davenport (No. 22). Meanwhile Minnesota comes in ranked at No. 23. This season, Minnesota has also rejoined the UMLC after the CCLA and PCLL merged to form the Continental Lacrosse Conference (CLC).
Minnesota will open their season with a pair of home games against North Dakota State University and Iowa State. North Dakota State is the defending 2018 Division II National Champion and comes in ranked No. 1 in the Division II preseason polls. The following week, the Maroon and Gold will travel to Michigan to take on the 2018 Division I National Champion Michigan State and Pittsburgh. To cap off February, the Gopher–Bulldog rivalry continues with a matchup against Minnesota–Duluth on February 24 at the brand new St. Michael–Albertville Dome.
An action packed March starts off with a grinding 3-game weekend as Minnesota hosts Davenport at HealthEast Sports Center on March 1. Immediately after, the team will pack their bags and travel down to Lincoln, Nebraska and Lawrence, Kansas for a pair of conference games against the Cornhuskers (March 2) and Jayhawks (March 3). After a weekend off, Minnesota will be back on the road for a 4-game spring break trip in southern California. They will first travel to San Diego to play San Diego State (March 16) and Sonoma State (March 17). Then travel to Los Angeles to take on Chapman (March 19) and USC (March 21). The Maroon and Gold then hosts Central Michigan (March 29) and Purdue (March 30).
In April, Minnesota will travel east to Virginia where they will take on Liberty (April 5-6) for their Midnight Mayhem game and Virginia Tech (April 7). The following weekend, Minnesota will host Western Michigan (April 13) and Missouri (April 14). They will finish their regular season with a trip up to Collegeville to play St. John's. The UMLC conference tournament will take place at the Crown Point Sports Complex in Crown Point, Indiana during the weekend of April 26-28. The conference champion will receive an AQ into the MCLA National Tournament in Salt Lake City on May 6-11.
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