Evanston, Ill.-- The University at Albany women's lacrosse team has already made program history, but the Great Danes will be looking for more come Saturday night. Albany faces Northwestern Saturday night at the Wildcats' Lakeside Field at 8 p.m. ET/ 7p.m. CT in the Great Danes' first-ever NCAA Quarterfinal appearance.
The Big Ten Network will broadcast Saturday night's game live. Mike Wolf will provide the play-by-play, while Kara Lentz will serve as color analyst.
The winner between Albany and Northwestern will advance to the NCAA Final Four at Stony Brook, N.Y. next weekend. No America East women's lacrosse team has ever continued on past the quarterfinal round.
Albany (18-0) won the America East regular season and tournament championships. It was the Great Danes' second straight regular-season crown and first-ever tournament title. Albany is the only undefeated team left in Division I.
Albany's Nikki Branchini, the America East Co-Player of the Year, is third in the NCAA with 5.11 draw controls per game this season, and is four shy of tying the conference single-season record of 96 held by the NCAA's all-time career draw control record holder, Kristen Millar (Vermont '09). Classmate attacker Taylor Frink's 49 assists have already surpassed the previous America East single-season record of 46. Frink is tops in the nation in helpers.
Albany joins Boston University as the only America East teams to reach the NCAA quarterfinals. The Terriers did so in 2005 and 2008. The Great Danes also tied the 2005 and 2008 Terrier squads for the America East record of 18 wins in a season.
Northwestern (18-2) has
advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for the eighth straight year. The
Wildcats won five consecutive national championships from 2005-09 and
were runner-ups last season. Kelly Amonte Hiller, a three-time IWLCA
national coach of the year, has led the program to seven straight
American Lacrosse Conference tournament championships. Tewaaraton Award
finalist Shannon Smith is the nation's leading scorer with 73 goals and
40 assists. Northwestern defeated Boston College, 11-8, in last week's
first round.