OK, so before we start cuing up Andy Williams’ old chestnut, I’m taking this three-day weekend to expound on some of the best aspects of the American scholastic field hockey season.

Days like today are one reason you should love this sport, because there are some absolutely titanic matchups scheduled. It’s the quarterfinal round in Pennsylvania and New York, it’s Sectional Saturday in Massachusetts and New Jersey, champions are crowned for Maryland’s public schools as well as the Midwest Athletic Association spanning southern Illinois and the greater St. Louis area.

Let’s start with the MWAA title match between St. Louis Ursuline (Mo.) and St. Louis St. Joseph’s Academy (Mo.). Ursuline, the No. 10 team in the TopOfTheCircle.com Top 10, has been the class of the MWAA this season, losing only to St. Louis Cor Jesu (Mo.), which had been the dominant team this decade. But St. Joseph’s took down the Chargers in overtime on Thursday to meet up with Ursuline, which shut out St. Louis Mary Institute-Country Day School (Mo.).

Now, in another part of the country, between the Hudson River and the Connecticut border, there will be a pair of tremendous intersectional matchups to determine who makes it to the New York State Public High Schools Athletic Association Final Four in Class A and Class B as part of a tripleheader of field hockey action.

On the “A” side, East Setauket Ward Melville (N.Y.), co-coached by the legendary Nancy Cole, will take on a Mamaroneck (N.Y.) side that is not only No. 2 in the TopOfTheCircle.com Top 10, it hasn’t even given up as much as one goal this season. On the “B” side, Garden City (N.Y.), which didn’t give up a single goal until about a week ago, will take on a very tough and resolute Putnam Valley (N.Y.) team which has belied its humble roots to become one of the Hudson Valley’s premier programs.

In Maryland, four state finals will be played at Washington College. Despite the fact that you do not have a collision of top programs like you did the last five years when it seemed as though some combination of Bethesda-Chevy Chase (Md.), Severna Park (Md.), and Fallston (Md.) would have to face each other, there are some good matchups awaiting the fans willing to make the trek.

The last one, in which Severna Park meets Gaithersburg Quince Orchard (Md.) is, to me, the most interesting. Severna Park’s head coach, Lil Shelton, is the longest-serving coach in the state, and has more than 400 wins to her credit. Quince Orchard, making its third consecutive appearance in the state championship game, had to hire a new coach when Jenna Reis left to help start and run a field hockey-specific indoor facility in Montgomery County, one of the first of its kind. The coaching reins have fallen to Laura Williams, who has done a splendid job of shepherding the Cougars back to the final — but beating Severna Park is another matter.

In Massachusetts, eight sectional champions will be crowned, with powerhouses like Greenfield (Mass.), Walpole (Mass.), Worcester Notre Dame Academy (Mass.), and Watertown (Mass.) still in play. But the interesting matchup is in Central Division 2, in which last year’s champion Warren Quaboag Regional (Mass.) takes on a top-seed Oakmont (Mass.) team which has never won a state title.

In Pennsylvania, there are a number of juicy matchups in the quarterfinal round today. In Class AAA, the two finalists from last year, Emmaus (Pa.) and Millersville Penn Manor (Pa.), will cross swords again. In the lower half of the bracket will see District 3 rivals Hershey (Pa.) and Hummelstown Lower Dauphin (Pa.). The two teams are four miles apart in central Pennsylvania and have already met each other twice this season with Lower Dauphin having one win, and the teams drew the other match.

In Class AA, the one eye-popping match sees the TopOfTheCircle.com Preseason No. 1 Kinsgston Wyoming Seminary (Pa.) against the nation’s second-leading scoring team, Center Valley Southern Lehigh (Pa.). It’s the kind of match that you might see something you haven’t seen before in a high-school game.

Finally, New Jersey will crown half of its 16 sectional champions tomorrow, for four groups within four quadrants of the state. By far, the most interesting match of all is in Group IV South, in which the only two schools ever to hold the title of Champion of Champions in the NJSIAA will face each other. Medford Lakes Shawnee (N.J.), winners of the 2007 Tournament of Champions, makes the trek to Coffins Corner to take on Voorhees Eastern (N.J.), winners of the 2006 T of C.

If you’re anywhere near any of these games, do yourself a favor and go out and support the sport.