May 9th, 2011
Villanova Leads Loaded LAX Tourney Field
No. 10 Wildcats will kick off tournament against Denver
The 10th-ranked Villanova Wildcats (11-4, 3-3) earned their second bid in program history to the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament, as announced Sunday evening on ESPNU. The Wildcats will face Denver (13-2) at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium on the Denver University campus.
Game time is scheduled for Sunday, May 15th at 3:15 MT/5:15 ET.
Head Coach Mike Corrado states, "We're excited to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, it means a lot to the program to be considered one of the best teams in the nation. We're looking forward to playing Denver and facing one of the best coaches in the history of the sport under Coach Tierney. It's going to be a challenging trip but we're ready."
After finishing the regular season with a 11-4 overall record, VU earned their first at-large bid to the NCAA postseason. The Wildcats garnered their first trip to the NCAA tournament during the 2009 season after winning the CAA championship. With tonight's matchups announced, the Wildcats will be the first team in NCAA tournament history to play in a game west of the Mississippi.
"We'll start watching film first thing tomorrow and keep a similar routine to what we've done all year. We'll have a week to prepare and I'm confident our athletes and coaching staff will rise to the challenge," says Corrado.
The 16-team field includes six conference champions with automatic qualification - American East Conference (Hartford), Colonial Athletic Association (Delaware), Eastern College Athletic Conference (Denver), Ivy Group (Cornell), Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (Siena) and Patriot League (Bucknell). The remainder of the field was selected at large: Duke University, Hofstra University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland, College Park, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, University of Notre Dame, University of Pennsylvania, Syracuse University, Villanova University, and University of Virginia.
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