Earlier this week, the Texas lacrosse coaching staff revealed the tentative spring schedule for this 2010, which right now features 15 regular-season games, eight of which will be played at home.

The Longhorns kick off the 2010 season with a home matchup on Feb. 5 against Southwestern, which this year became the first NCAA lacrosse program in the state. Texas then has four difficult contests in Austin, first against LSA opponent Texas Tech on Feb. 13 and then Arizona the next day. The Horns then welcome Southern Methodist and Louisiana State on back-to-back days Feb. 19 and 20.

The team travels to Missouri after that, facing both Colorado State and Lindenwood in Saint Charles, Mo.

"We really felt that in order to be prepared at the end of the season, we needed to compete with the best during the season," said Texas head coach Noah Fink. "The goal when scheduling was to play the best possible competition."

For their annual spring break trip, the Longhorns head back to Southern California in mid-March. There the team will engage in a gauntlet against opponents Florida State and Chapman. Texas has never faced Florida State before, but the Seminoles made it to last year's MCLA tournament and finished as the No. 7 team in the country.

For its other game in California, Texas will get a chance to replay its 2009 trip. Chapman, which made it to the national championship game last season, defeated Texas 14-4 in March of '09.

"The team wanted another shot at Chapman," Fink said. "It was the only game last season that we were not ready to play. We came out flat and did not execute. Everyone left with a bad taste in their mouths since we knew that we were capable of competing at that level."

The men in burnt orange will get a chance to avenge their biggest loss of last season versus the Panthers on March 15. An open date in California follows, which the coaching staff is currently trying to fill.

"Ultimately, the spring break trip is about chemistry," Fink said. "We take every player on the roster and work on really making sure that the team has an experience together. If we want to play great lacrosse, the team has to have that chemistry and a trip like this is one way to work on improving this aspect of the team."

Texas returns to Austin for Alumni Weekend on March 27, when the team welcomes former players to town for a celebration of the program's steeped history. Aside from alumni, the team will also extend a welcome to Loyola Marymount University, which they play at 1 p.m. that Saturday.

The Lions are a WCLL Division I team that was also ranked in 2009. That brings the total number of Top 25 teams from last year on the Horns' schedule to an astounding seven in the regular season alone.

"Ideally these games will get our guys ready for the conference championship and the MCLA championships as well," Fink said.

The team finishes the spring with a visit to LSA neighbor Texas State on April 2, and then a game at Rice four days later. The final game of the regular season will take place at 1 p.m. on April 10 when rival Texas A&M travels to Austin for the annual end of the season contest.

The Lone Star Alliance tournament follows, with a quarterfinal game set for April 17. The semifinals and finals will occur on the weekend of April 24, with the winner guaranteed an automatic qualifier in 2010's national tournament.