March 16, 2004
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team, off to the best start in the program’s eight-year history, moved up to third in the national rankings after knocking off second-ranked Duke and sixth-ranked James Madison last week. The Irish are ranked third in the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) poll and third by Inside Lacrosse magazine. That is the highest ranking the Irish have ever had since the program started in 1997.
The previous highest rank that the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team has had was seventh at the end of the 2002 season.
The Irish have won five straight to start the year and has won four straight over nationally ranked teams through the first three weeks of the season. To date, Notre Dame has beaten 15th-ranked Stanford, #19th-ranked Cornell, second-ranked Duke and sixth-ranked James Madison.
Combined with four wins at the end of the 2003 season, the Irish have now won nine consecutive games.
“We are very excited about being ranked this high. It’s a great accomplishment. The team has worked very hard to get to this point. It’s nice to be recognized,” said head coach Tracy Coyne.
“We have to realize that there is still a lot of season left and a lot of games left to be played. We have to keep working hard and stay focused on the games ahead of us.”
Notre Dame will put its 5-0 record on the line on Friday, March 26th when they return to action at home versus Virginia Tech. That game is scheduled to be played at Moose Krause Stadium with a starting time of 7:00 p.m.
IWLCA RANKINGS (as of March 16, 2004)No. Team (1st place votes) Points Last Week1. Princeton (15) (3-0) 300 12. Georgetown (3-0) 278 53. NOTRE DAME (5-0) 253 124. Duke (5-1) 245 25. Virginia (4-2) 231 96. Loyola (5-1) 225 47. Maryland (4-2) 219 38. James Madison (3-1) 216 69. Syracuse (1-2) 183 810. Vanderbilt (3-1) 157 1011. Dartmouth (1-1) 148 912. North Carolina (4-2) 144 1313. Boston University (2-0) 108 1114. Northwestern (3-1) 102 1515. Johns Hopkins (5-0) 96 1716. Yale (2-2) 91 1617. William & Mary (3-1) 39 2018. Penn State (1-4) 36 14 Richmond (2-2) 36 NR20. Old Dominion (2-0) 24 NR
Receiving Votes: Stanford, 15; Ohio State, 5.
2004 Inside Lacrosse Magazine 2004 Poll(as of March 16, 2004)
No. Team 1. Princeton 2. Georgetown 3. NOTRE DAME 4. James Madison 5. Duke 6. Virginia 7. Maryland 8. Loyola 9. Dartmouth10. Syracuse11. Vanderbilt12. Boston University13. North Carolina14. Yale15. Northwestern16. Penn State17. Johns Hopkins18. William & Mary19. Richmond20. Old Dominion