It’s Time to Faceoff! Lacrosse Season Begins February 1 on ACC Network

• Most Televised ACC Lacrosse Coverage Ever
• New Thursday Night Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse Window
• ACC Lacrosse Championships Coverage April 22-26
• ACC Lacrosse Leads Preseason Rankings

ACC Network (ACCN), the 24/7 national platform dedicated to ACC sports, begins its lacrosse coverage on Saturday, Feb. 1 with a men’s doubleheader as North Carolina hosts Colgate at noon ET, and Duke welcomes Air Force at 2 p.m. ACCN will showcase the ACC’s men’s and women’s lacrosse programs with unprecedented national television coverage this spring.

ACCN will exclusively televise 34 men’s and women’s games this spring, including 19 men’s and 15 women’s games, marking the most national television coverage ever for ACC men’s and women’s lacrosse. Additionally, ACC Network Extra (ACCNX), ACCN’s digital platform available on the ESPN App, will carry 13 men’s and 59 women’s contests throughout the spring.

“Continuing with our commitment to elevate coverage of all ACC sponsored sports, we are excited to feature extensive coverage of both men’s and women’s lacrosse on ACCN,” said Stacie McCollum, ESPN vice president of programming and acquisitions. “ACCN will showcase the best lacrosse teams in the country each week, including reigning national champion Virginia, and in a dedicated window on Thursday nights. The ACC has a longstanding tradition of success in lacrosse and the network will provide an opportunity to deliver more games than ever to its passionate fan base.”

Following Duke’s and North Carolina’s home openers on February 1, Syracuse begins its season at 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 7 against Colgate on ACCN, while reigning NCAA Champion Virginia welcomes Loyola (Md.) for its season opener on Saturday, Feb. 8, at 2 p.m., on the network. First draw for the women on ACCN is Thursday, March 5, with two-time NCAA Champion and North Carolina hosting Louisville at 7 p.m.

Thursday Night Lacrosse on ACCN

ACC Network will debut a new dedicated night of live lacrosse programming – Thursdays – starting on March 5. Overall, four men’s and three women’s games will be featured on Thursday nights throughout the spring, with all seven contests being conference matchups.

Thursday Men’s lacrosse games on ACCN: Virginia at Notre Dame (March 19, 7 p.m.), North Carolina at Duke (March 26, 7 p.m.), Virginia at North Carolina (April 2, 7 p.m.) and Duke at Virginia (April 9, 7 p.m.). Thursday night women’s lacrosse features: Louisville at North Carolina (March 5, 7 p.m.), Syracuse at Virginia (March 12, 7 p.m.) and Virginia at Virginia Tech (April 16, 7 p.m.).

ACC Championship Coverage on ACCN

ACCN will feature championship coverage from men’s and women’s lacrosse, including all seven games of the ACC Women’s Lacrosse Championship (April 22, 24, 26) and the semifinals of the ACC Men’s Lacrosse Championship (April 24). ESPNU will carry the ACC Men’s Lacrosse Championship game on Sunday, April 26.

Commentators

Coverage of ACC men’s lacrosse on ACCN will be bolstered by a bevy of experienced play-by-play commentators and analysts. Included in the line-up play-by-play commentators: Anish Shroff, Chris Cotter, Jay Atler, Jason Benetti and Steve Schlanger.

Men’s analysis will be provided by:

• Quint Kessenich – Two-time winner of the Ensign C. Markland Kelly, Jr. Award as the nation’s best goalie when he played for Johns Hopkins; played professionally with the Baltimore Thunder
• Paul Carcaterra – All-American and national champion with the Syracuse Orangemen; played professionally with Major League Lacrosse’s New Jersey Pride and participated in the World Lacrosse Games
• Matt Ward – Won the Tewaaraton Award for most outstanding player in 2006 after winning a national championship with Virginia; a year later, won Rookie of the Year in the MLL playing for the Washington Bayhawks
• Ric Beardlsey – Four-time All-American at Syracuse; member of the Orange’s 1993 and 1995 national championship teams
• Ryan Boyle – Four-time All-American at Princeton, winning the national championship with the Tigers in 2001; played professionally in both the NLL and MLL, and retired in 2014 with the Boston Cannons
• Myles Jones – Former Duke All-American, two-time midfielder of the year and two-time national champion; current member of the Premier Lacrosse League
• Doug Tarring – Member Virginia’s 1970 and 1972 NCAA Championship teams

Play by play commentators for women’s coverage includes John Brickley, Mike Corey and Leah Secondo.

Women’s game analysts include:

• Sheehan Stanwick-Burch – four-time All-American at Georgetown, team captain in 2001; named National Attacker of the Year (2001) and was a finalist for the Tewaaraton Award in the same year
• Dana Boyle – Two-year lacrosse letterwinner at Virginia
• Rachel DeCecco – Princeton grad; senior vice president of Women’s Professional Lacrosse League
• Courtney Martinez – Four-time national champion at Maryland (1998-2001)
• Halley Quillinan – Former Syracuse standout; fourth player to record 200 career points and third on all-time list in scored goals (174)
• Jon “Stugotz” Weiner – the co-host on The Dan LaBatard Show with Stugotz will make a number of in-game appearances during the season; named to Pilgrim League All-Star team during his playing days at Clark University (1992-1995)

Strength of ACC Spring Sport Programs

The ACC men’s and women’s lacrosse programs have set the standard of excellence for their peers in college athletics. The ACC combines for 25 men’s lacrosse and 16 women’s lacrosse NCAA titles. Virginia won its sixth NCAA men’s lacrosse championship in 2019, while the ACC sent multiple teams to the NCAA women’s lacrosse championship weekend in six of past seven seasons.

All five ACC men’s lacrosse programs are ranked in the top 10 of Inside Lacrosse’s preseason Top 20 (No. 2 Virginia, No. 5 Syracuse, No. 7 Duke, No. 8 Notre Dame and No. 10 North Carolina), while six of eight women’s programs are among the preseason Top 20 (No. 1 North Carolina, No. 4 Syracuse, No. 5 Boston College, No. 7 Notre Dame, No. 9 Virginia and No. 20 Duke).

ACC Men’s Lacrosse on ACC Network

ACC Women’s Lacrosse on ACC Network

About ACC Network


Owned and operated by ESPN in partnership with the Atlantic Coast Conference, ACC Network (ACCN) is a new 24/7 national network dedicated to ACC sports that launched on August 22, 2019. Approximately 450 live contests including 40 regular-season football games, 150 men’s and women’s basketball games, and 200 other regular-season competitions and tournament games from across the conference’s 27 sponsored sports will be televised annually, plus a complement of news and information shows and original programming. Together, the ACCN and its digital platform, ACC Network Extra (ACCNX), will feature 1,350 ACC events in its first year. ESPN has been televising ACC content since 1979 and has exclusive rights to every conference-controlled game across all sports and championships.

Carriage agreements are in place with the following video providers: AT&T U-Verse, AT&T TV NOW, Cox, DIRECTV, DISH Network, Google Fiber, Hulu Live TV, Optimum, Sling TV, Spectrum TV, Suddenlink, TVision, Verizon Fios, Vidgo, YouTube TV, members of the NCTC, NRTC and Vivicast, among others. All ACCN programming is also be available on the ESPN app to authenticated subscribers. Fans interested in learning more about ACCN can visit www.GetACCN.com.