May 4, 2003
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
It was announced this evening that the University of Maryland women's lacrosse team earned a berth in this year's NCAA tournament and will square off with the Temple University Owls on Thursday at Ludwig Field. Game time is set for 4:00 p.m. with tickets ranging from $3 (students/children) to $5 (adults).
This year's 16-team field consists of eight automatic qualifiers (conference champions) and eight teams that earned at-large berths. The Terrapins (16-3, 3-0 ACC) were one of the eight at-large teams as the Atlantic Coast Conference is not one of the eight conferences from which an automatic berth is drawn. By earning their spot in this year's field, the Terps have made the NCAAs for the 14th-consecutive season and their 19th bid overall in 21 seasons since women's lacrosse became an NCAA sanctioned sport.
Temple (13-5) earned its bid in this year's tournament by way of winning the Atlantic 10 Conference championship. The Terps are 14-10-1 (.580) all-time against the Owls, but that record is somewhat misleading in terms of recent history. The Terrapins and Owls last met in 2000 (a 12-7 Maryland win) and the Terrapins have won each of the last 12 meetings between the two schools. Temple's last win in the series came in 1988 while the two schools are tied at one win apiece in NCAA tournament play (Maryland 9-6 winners in 1997 semifinals; Temple 6-4 winners in the 1984 finals).
"I am real excited and happy for our team that we have earned the No. 2 seed in this year's tournament," said head coach Cindy Timchal. "Taking on Temple is an added bonus as they have a rich tradition in lacrosse and in the NCAA tournament."
Maryland enters this year's tournament having won seven of the last eight national championships and 10 overall. The Terps own a 33-9 record all-time in the NCAA tournament. The winner of the Maryland/Temple game will advance to take on the winner of the Boston University/Dartmouth game for a spot in this year's Final Four.
The following is the bracket for this year's NCAA women's lacrosse tournament (a printable complete version can be obtained by clicking on the following link --
NCAA Women's Lacrosse Bracket):
UMBC (10-8) at #1 seed Loyola (15-1)
Syracuse (10-5) at Yale (13-3)
Ohio State (13-3) at #4 seed Duke (13-4)
LeMoyne (12-5) at Princeton (12-4)
Temple (13-5) at #2 seed Maryland (16-3)
Boston University (14-4) at Dartmouth (10-4)
American (11-7) at #3 seed Virginia (14-4)
James Madison (13-5) at Georgetown (12-3)
