UAlbany Women’s Lacrosse Draws NCAA At-Large Bid, Will Challenge Northwestern
ALBANY, NY. — The UAlbany women’s lacrosse team will continue its 2017 season in the NCAA Tournament, earning an at-large bid into the postseason. The Great Danes will travel back to Stony Brook to take on Northwestern on Friday, May 12th at 7:30 p.m.
The game will be played at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium on Long Island. Stony Brook, the 8-seed of the NCAA tournament, will serve as host. The winner of UAlbany-Northwestern will take on the victor of Stony Brook-Bryant on Sunday.
UAlbany picks up its second at-large in program history, getting its first in 2015. It is the program’s fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
“We are excited, and we are not just happy to be here,” said UAlbany head coach John Battaglino. “I am happy that two teams in our league got rewarded for having a great season.”
UAlbany earned its seventh consecutive appearance in the America East title game, falling to Stony Brook to finish the regular season at 12-5 overall, including a victory over top-10 team Cornell. All of UAlbany’s defeats came against NCAA seeded teams.
Northwestern picked up an at-large into the NCAA Tournament after being the runner-up in the Big Ten Conference. The Wildcats are 10-9 overall including wins over Penn State and Notre Dame. Northwestern has seven national titles, last winning in 2012.
This will be the second meeting of these programs, with the first occurring in the 2011 NCAA Second Round. UAlbany fell to Northwestern, the eventual national champion that year, 18-4 in Evanston.
In UAlbany’s last appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 2015, the Great Danes fell to Penn 11-10 in overtime in Syracuse.
The team gathered in the SEFCU Arena Hall of Fame room to watch the NCAA.com Selection Show in front of the administration, media and team supporters.
-Dave Vatz, UAlbany Sports Information
