Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/7/17
The NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse Committee has selected the 26 teams to compete in the 2017 NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse Championship.
Eight sites will host first- and second-round competition Friday, May 12 and Sunday, May 14, and four quarterfinal games will be played Saturday, May 20 or Sunday, May 21. These preliminary-round games will be played on the campuses of competing institutions. The winners of the four quarterfinal games will advance to the semifinals and final hosted by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, May 26 and 28 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
The semifinal games will be shown live on ESPN3 at 5 and 7:30 p.m. ET, Friday, May 26. The championship game will air live on ESPNU on Sunday, May 28 at 11 a.m. ET. Tickets for the championship games at Gillette Stadium can be purchased online at http://www.ncaa.com/tickets.
Thirteen conferences, including the America East Conference, Atlantic 10 Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference, ASUN Conference, Big East Conference, Big South Conference, Big Ten Conference, Colonial Athletic Association, The Ivy League, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, Northeast Conference and Patriot League had conference champions awarded automatic qualification for the 2017 championship. The remaining 13 teams were selected on an at-large basis.
Teams receiving automatic qualification:
CONFERENCE SCHOOL
America East Stony Brook
Atlantic 10 Massachusetts
Atlantic Coast North Carolina
ASUN Conference Jacksonville
Big East Florida
Big South High Point
Big Ten Maryland
Colonial James Madison
Ivy League Princeton
Metro Atlantic Canisius
Mountain Pacific Southern California
Northeast Bryant
Patriot Navy
Teams selected at-large (alphabetically):
Albany (New York) Boston College
Colorado Cornell
Elon Louisville
Northwestern Notre Dame
Pennsylvania Penn State
Syracuse Towson
Virginia
In the 2016 championship, North Carolina captured its second national championship in four years by scoring a 13-7 win over Maryland in the championship played at Talen Energy Stadium in Philadelphia.
Penn earns trip as 7th seed
For the 11th consecutive season – and 13th time overall – the University of Pennsylvania women’s lacrosse team has been selected to compete for a national championship with Penn’s at-large berth to the 2017 NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Tournament.
The No. 7 seed Quakers (13-3) have drawn the Navy Midshipmen in the opening round to be played at Penn Park. With a win, the Red and Blue will advance to play the winner of Colorado/UMass in the second round.
Last year, Penn was also the No.7 seed and won a pair of games to advance to the quarterfinal round before the Quakers were defeated by Penn State, 8-4.
NCAA Notes
· Penn’s 11 consecutive national tournament appearances is the fifth-longest active streak of any Division I team. The Quakers trail only Maryland (27), Virginia (22), Northwestern (14) and North Carolina (13) in active consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament.
· Penn is 13-12 all-time in NCAA Tournament games.
· Penn’s 13 NCAA Tournament victories are tied for 11th-most all-time by any Division I team.
· Penn is 8-4 all-time in NCAA Tournament first round games.
· Penn has won three consecutive first round games dating back to 2014.
· Penn and Navy have never played in women’s lacrosse. The Quakers have also not played Colorado, but are 1-0 all-time against UMass – the win coming in 1980.