Sophomore defender Becky Ranck was one of two Notre Dame players selected to the NCAA all-tournament team along with senior Crysti Foote

Women's Lacrosse To Open NCAA Tournament At Home Versus Cornell

May 8, 2006

Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team will continue the most successful season in the program’s 10-year history when the Irish open the first round of the NCAA Tournament at home on Sunday, May 14 versus the Cornell Big Red. Game time at Moose Krause Stadium is set for 1:00 p.m.

Tickets for the first round of the NCAA Tournament will be available through the Notre Dame ticket office and are priced at $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for students with valid ID. For more information on tickets, contact the Notre Dame ticket office at 574-631-7356.

The Irish, the tournament’s sixth seed, will take a 13-3 record into Sunday’s game against 10th-ranked Cornell. The Big Red was 12-3 on the season and finished second in the Ivy League. This will be the second meeting of the season between the two schools as they met on March 5 at the Loftus Sports Center with Notre Dame taking a 17-15 win. This will be the sixth meeting in the all-time series with Cornell holding a 3-2 edge in the first five games. At home, Notre Dame is 2-1 against the Big Red.

“We had a pretty good year and knew we were getting in the tournament,” said head coach Tracy Coyne after watching the CSTV selection show with her team.

“It’s still very exciting when they finally call your name and you see who you will be playing. We have a great deal of respect for Cornell. They play a tough Ivy League schedule and had a great season. I think this will be a great match up.”

Coyne talked about the early season game between the two schools in March. “Our first meeting was an early-season game and was played indoors. I don’t think either team knew how good they could be this season. I thought the game (a 17-15 Notre Dame win) was one of the most exciting games that we played this season,” said Coyne.

This is Notre Dame’s third NCAA appearance and the highest the Irish have ever been seeded. In 2002, they were the eighth seed and played host to Ohio State in the opening game. The Irish downed Ohio State at Moose Krause Stadium, 11-7 before falling to the top seed, Princeton, 11-5, in the quarterfinals. In 2004, the Irish traveled to Northwestern for an opening round game and dropped a 10-8 decision to the Wildcats.

Notre Dame’s 13 wins this season are the most the Irish have ever had in the regular season and ties the school record for wins in a season (2002, 13-5). The Irish are 7-0 at home this season, the first time they have ever been undefeated at home. The school record for wins at home is eight (8-2) and was set during the 2002 season.

The winner of the Notre Dame-Cornell game will advance to the second round of the tournament versus the winner of the Georgetown-Monmouth game on Saturday, May 20th at 1:00 p.m. Georgetown is the No. 3 seed in the tournament.

2006 NCAA Women's Lacrosse Tournament
First Round Games (Sunday, May 14)Holy Cross (14-6) at #1 Duke (16-2)
Richmond (16-3) at #8 James Madison (14-4)
Maryland (12-7) at #5 North Carolina (12-5)
Stanford (12-5) at #4 Northwestern (16-1)
Monmouth (13-6) at #3 Georgetown (13-3)
Cornell (12-3) at #6 Notre Dame (13-3)
Boston University (15-4) at #7 Dartmouth (11-5)
Princeton (15-3) at #2 Virginia (15-3)
Second-Round Games (Saturday, May 20)
Eight first round winners advance to campus sites
NCAA Semifinals ( Friday, May 26 at Boston, Mass.)
NCAA Finals (Sunday, May 28 at Boston, Mass.)