Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/10/21 – From Press Releases
The Drexel women’s lacrosse team set another program record Sunday night as they received an at-large bid to the 2021 NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championships.
After a tough double overtime loss to James Madison in the CAA Championships, the NCAA announced that the Dragons season will continue against Rutgers University in the opening round of the tournament. The game will be held Friday, May 14 at 4 p.m. at Kenneth P. Lavalle Stadium on the campus of Stony Brook University.
Preliminary-round coverage will be streamed on ESPN + and the ESPN App while the semifinals and championship games will be nationally televised on ESPNU.
The Dragons will make their first program appearance in the NCAA tournament after competing to a 13-2 record in 2021 and an appearance in the CAA Championships. Heading into the tournament, Drexel commanded the regular season, finishing on a seven game win streak and slated No. 10 in the national rankings.
Temple earns NCAA bid for first time in 13 years
For the first time in 13 years, Temple lacrosse will compete in the NCAA tournament, facing off against No. 16 UMass at Boston College on May 14th at 4 p.m. Temple will be making its first appearance in the NCAA tournament since 2008. UMass and Temple shared a conference for several years as members of the Atlantic-10. Attendance will be limited to student-athlete guests, the match will be streamed on ESPN+.
On the Other Side
The Owls will face off against the UMass Minutewomen in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Minutewomen are 15-2 this season. They defeated the Saint Joseph’s Hawks in the Atlantic-10 title game 18-7.
UMass is ranked No. 16 in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll.
How We Got Here
The Owls have earned an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1998, when they were an independent.
The Owls ended the season winning eight of their last ten games, including a decisive victory over Vanderbilt in the American Athletic Conference semifinals.
Temple earned a 12-5 record. All five losses were against opponents ranked with a top 15 RPI ranking.
Temple placed 17th in the most recent version of the RPI rankings.
West Chester gets bye, top seed in Atlantic Region
Fresh off the program’s 24th Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) title, including the last three consecutively, West Chester University’s women’s lacrosse team earned the top seed in the Atlantic Region.
West Chester (13-0) earns a bye in the first round of the NCAA Tournament as a result of its No. 1 seed. The Golden Rams will play the winner of the first-round contest between second-seeded Seton Hill (13-2) and third-seeded East Stroudsburg (10-2). That game will be played on Friday with the winner advancing to the regional final to face West Chester on Sunday. Both the first round and regional championship games next weekend will begin at 2 p.m. and take place inside Eiler-Martin Stadium.
West Chester is making its 14th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and holds a 17-11 record overall. The Golden Rams have been to 10 NCAA Championship Games and have won two national titles (2002, 2008). West Chester dropped an 11-5 decision to Adelphi in the last national championship game contested back in 2019.
As for this spring, the Golden Rams enter the field undefeated and ranked fourth in the country. Graduate student, Molly Reinhart (Sinking Springs, Pa./Wilson) leads the nation in caused turnovers per game while goalkeeper Julianne Clemens (Springfield-DELCO) sports one of the lowest goals-against averages in the country as well. The play of defenders Reinhart, Claire Dennis (Gov. Mifflin) and Lexi Einsig (Exeter Twp.) in front of Clemens is a big reason why West Chester’s defense ranks fifth in the nation.
Don’t worry, however, head coach Ginny Martino’s charges can still find the back of the cage. The offense ranks fourth in the country, led by fifth-year senior Tatum Altman, who has 48 goals and 32 assists on the year to rank sixth nationally in points per game (6.17). The Golden Rams boast six players with over 20 goals scored on the season.
West Chester is 4-0 against the rest of the Atlantic Region field in the NCAA Tournament. All three regional squads came out of the PSAC. The Golden Rams defeated No. 3 seed East Stroudsburg three times this spring while knocking off No. 2 seed Seton Hill, 19-8, in the PSAC Championship Game Sunday afternoon.