The 2025 season gets officially underway with 17 games on February 1, and D-Fly & Dixie are back in the saddle to help get you acclimated and excited for the new year. Despite two-time defending champ Notre Dame again claiming the top spot in the IL Media Top 20, the main theme of this new season is fresh faces. The historic cohort of experienced, record-breaking household names have departed, ushering in a new era in college lacrosse. Have your team rosters and game notes ready for early season games.

As seems the case every year, there are some rules changes to understand. Two significant changes center around replays and face-offs. Who better to talk face-offs than TD Ierlan, arguably the greatest face-off athlete of all time? Ierlan and Dixie break down why the rules were needed and how the new face-off mechanics will work. In addition, the guys talk about preparing for a long season, coaching the face-off, TD’s college experience playing for three legendary coaches and which college team gets the most love on spring Saturdays.

There are 18 games this weekend, with 17 on Saturday. Are you sitting down, because you aren’t going to believe this. Practically all of the games (13 of the 17 games) are at noon. Ugh. How hard would it be to schedule games spread out from noon to 8 p.m.?

In any case there are some intriguing battles, including two legitimate Top 20 matchups:

No. 20 Richmond at No. 5 Maryland, noon

Navy at High Point, noon

Colgate at No. 14 Penn State, noon

Loyola at No. 11 Georgetown, noon

Jacksonville at No. 2 Syracuse, noon

No. 8 JHU at No. 10 Denver, 2 p.m.

In this week’s winter weather-themed Give & Go, the fellas reminisce about snow days of yore and finding the best sledding hill in the neighborhood.