Indianapolis, Ind.--
The eighth-ranked University at Albany Great Danes will make their first-ever appearance in the women's lacrosse NCAA Tournament field of 16, as announced during the selection show on Sunday evening. Albany earned the America East's automatic berth after winning the conference championship on Saturday with an 11-4 win over UMBC.
Seeded seventh in the tournament, the Great Danes (17-0) will travel to face unseeded Dartmouth (11-4) on Sunday at 1p in the first round. Albany is the only unbeaten team in the bracket.
The Big Green received an at-large berth after falling to Harvard in the Ivy League semifinals. Dartmouth went 2-1 against America East competition during the regular season, including victories over New Hampshire and Vermont, and a loss to Boston U.
Albany, one of three teams making NCAA Tournament debuts this year, has senior leadership in Tewaaraton Award nominee Taylor Frink, America East Co-Player of the Year Nikki Branchini and America East Championship Most Outstanding Player Jodi Battaglia. Frink leads the conference with 81 points and 48 assists, to go along with 33 goals, while Battaglia paces the Danes with 51 goals, including 10 in the conference tournament. Branchini, an All-American, is the NCAA Division I active leader in career draw controls, including 87 in 2011, and plays all over the field as a defensive midfielder for Albany
As a team, the Great Danes lead the country in scoring defense, allowing 6.71 goals per game and is second in scoring margin (7.06) only to top-seeded Maryland. Head Coach John Battaglino is in his first season at the helm of the program and led the Great Danes to the America East Regular Season Championship, the team's second in as many years.
Dartmouth is ranked 10th in the Division I coaches' poll and 12th in the media poll. It boasts the Ivy's Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year in Kate Collins and Kristen Giovanniello, respectively, and seven All-Ivy selections. The Big Green have leaned on Giovanniello in goal all season long as the freshman has played every possible minute with a .517 save percentage and a goals against average just over eight. Collins has a team-high 33 goals.
Eight first-round games will be conducted Saturday, May 14, or Sunday,
May 15, and four quarterfinal games will be played Saturday, May 21, or
Sunday, May 22. 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
Stony Brook University May 27 and 29 at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium in
Stony Brook, New York. The semifinal games will be streamed live in HD
on www.NCAA.com
at 5 and 7:30 p.m. Eastern time, Friday, May 27. The championship game
will be streamed at 4 p.m., Sunday, May 29. Tickets for the semifinals
and final can be purchased online at http://www.goseawolves.org/tickets/ston-10-ncaalax-tix.html
.