UVa. women’s lacrosse receives at-large NCAA bid

The Virginia women’s lacrosse team earned its 18th consecutive NCAA Tournament bid, securing an at-large berth in the 26-team Championship field. The Cavaliers (9-9) will open the tournament by taking on Penn (11-5) on Friday, May 10 at 3 pm in a first-round game in Washington, D.C.

The winner will advance to play sixth-seeded Georgetown (13-5) on Sunday, May 12 at 1 p.m.

“We are so happy to finally know what comes next and that we made it into the post season,” said Virginia head coach Julie Myers. “We feel like our best lacrosse is being played right now, so we are super excited by the opportunity. It is a hard road, but it is a do-able road. We haven’t played Penn since a scrimmage in February. They are on a hot-streak right now, too, so we need to take care of Penn. Georgetown is another great team. It should be hard to win a national championship. We are excited to have the opportunity.”

This will be the first meeting between UVa and the Quakers. Virginia holds a 7-3 record against Georgetown.

This will be Virginia’s 26th overall trip to the NCAA Tournament as it vies for its fourth national title. The Cavaliers have earned an NCAA bid in each of the 18 seasons that Myers has been the head coach.

The 2013 championship marks the first year that the field will be comprised of 26 teams with 13 automatic qualifiers and 13 at-large bids, including Virginia. The top-eight teams will host first and second round competition on May 10 and 12 with seeds one through six receiving first-round byes.

The fourquarterfinal games will be played May 18 or 19. These preliminary-round games will be played on the campuses of competing institutions. The winners of the four quarterfinal games will advance to the semifinals and final hosted by Villanova University May 24 and 26 at Villanova Stadium in Villanova, Pennsylvania. The semifinal games will be shown live on ESPN3 at 5 and 7:30p.m. ET on May 24. The championship game will air live on ESPNU at 8 p.m. on May 26. Tickets for the championship games in Villanova can be purchased online athttp://www.ncaa.com/tickets.

Ticket information for Virginia’s games at Georgetown will be released in the near future.