May 5, 2002

The Lafayette women's lacrosse team learned its fate Sunday evening via the NCAA Selection Show and will travel to Washington, D.C. for a 4 p.m. contest with No. 1-seed Georgetown on Thursday, May 9. The first round contest of the NCAA Championship Tournament will take place at Georgetown's Kehoe field.

Led by second-year head coach Rebecca Joseph, the Leopards earned the Patriot League's first-ever automatic bid after capturing both the regular season and tournament championship. Lafayette enters the tournament with an overall record of 13-6 and a 5-1 Patriot League mark. In 12 seasons of Patriot League women's lacrosse action, the Leopards have won 10 conference titles and have recorded an incredible conference record of 50-5.

Seeds were awarded to the top four teams in the 16-team tournament and travel consideration weighed heavily on first-round pairings.

Lafayette faced two of the teams in the tournament during the 2002 regular season. The Leopards opened the season with No. 2-seed Princeton, falling to the Tigers by a score of 18-7, and dropped a 13-6 decision to unseeded Temple on April 2.

Ranked second nationally in the April 29 Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) poll, Georgetown has enjoyed a successful 2002 regular season. The Hoyas have compiled an overall record of 14-1 and a 6-0 mark in BIG EAST play this season. In addition, the Hoyas earned their first ever No. 1 IWLCA ranking in 2002 and won the BIG EAST Conference title for the second-consecutive year to earn a fifth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.

The Hoyas garnered runner-up honors in last year's national tournament after taking then six-time defending champion Maryland to sudden victory overtime before falling 14-13 in the championship game at Johns Hopkins University.