May 4, 2009

From Colgate Athletic Communications

HAMILTON, N.Y. - The Colgate women's lacrosse team found out it will face second-seeded Maryland in the opening round of the 2009 NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championships, as the NCAA announced the 16-team field, late Sunday evening.

The game will take place May 10 at the University of Maryland's Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex in College Park, Md. Game time has yet to be determined.

The Raiders, 14-4 overall, qualified for their fourth NCAA appearance by downing Navy 17-4 in the finals of the Patriot League Tournament, last Sunday afternoon at Tyler's Field. Previously, Colgate participated in the 2004, 2005 and 2008 NCAA tournaments.

This match-up marks the second consecutive season the Raiders will have faced the tournament's second seeded team in the opening round. Last season, after edging Marist 19-18 in the NCAA play-in game, Colgate fell 16-7 to second-seeded Penn in the opening round in Philadelphia. Maryland, which enters the tournament with a 19-0 record, won the Atlantic Coast Conference's automatic berth with victories over Virginia (15-7) and Duke (12-11).

In their last regular-season game, the Terrapins blew by fifth-ranked Princeton 20-12 on Senior Day.

"We are really excited to face a team like Maryland," said Colgate head coach Heather Bliss, the 2009 Patriot League Coach of the Year. "They have a great team and tremendous tradition. We no doubt will have to play our very best in this particular game to have a chance to advance.

"We have several players from the Maryland/Northern Virginia area who are very happy with this news," continued Bliss. "You can see how excited they were when the announcement was made. Their eyes lit up."

Seven Colgate players from the Maryland/D.C./Northern Virginia area will be playing in front of friends and family Sunday afternoon. The list includes first team all-Patriot League honoree and league defensive player of the year Maddie Kearns (Chevy Chase, Md.); junior Alex Kuntz (Annapolis, Md.); sophomore Lizzie Kusbit (Rockville, Md.), and freshmen Christina Roa (Potomac, Md.), and Katie Sullivan (Cockeysville, Md.). Sophomores Annie Culvahouse (Alexandria, Va.) and Missy Giusti (Ashburn, Va.) reside not too far from the Maryland campus as well.

This will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools in women's lacrosse.

The winner of Colgate/Maryland will play the winner of Syracuse/Boston University in the tournament's second round.