WOMEN'S LACROSSE HEADED TO CORTLAND, NEW YORK FOR SECOND ROUND OF NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP

MEDFORD - With a 17-6 victory at Endicott College on Wednesday night, the Tufts women's lacrosse team punched its ticket to Cortland, New York for the second round of the NCAA Championship. The Jumbos will play the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons on Saturday at 11:30 am.

Hamilton (19-1) and Colby (14-4) will play in the other regional semi-final hosted by Cortland on Saturday at 2:30 pm. The Tufts (12-6)/Cortland (19-1) winner will play the Hamilton/Colby winner in the national quarterfinals on Sunday at 1 pm at Cortland. The winner of that game will move on to the NCAA semi-finals at Garden City, New York May 21.

The 2011 Tufts women's lacrosse team earned the program's second berth into the NCAA Division III Championships on Sunday night. The Jumbos rolled over Endicott in the first round, building a 10-3 halftime lead and never looking back.

Tufts, which received an at large NCAA berth, was one of five New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) teams to earn bids in the 31-team NCAA field for 2011. The Jumbos placed fifth in the conference this spring with a 5-4 mark. All four of their losses were by one goal against Colby, Trinity, Middlebury and Bowdoin teams that also earned NCAA berths.

Coach Carol Rappoli's Jumbos then went up to Middlebury on May 1 and defeated the Panthers 13-12 in the conference quarterfinals. They were edged 13-12 by undefeated and eventual league champion Trinity in the semi-finals on Saturday.

This is the second time in three years that the team has gone to the NCAA's. The 2009 squad earned the program's first-ever NCAA berth and advanced into the national quarterfinals with high-scoring wins over Drew (22-15) and St. John Fisher (20-18) in the first two rounds. They were eliminated by Franklin & Marshall in the quarterfinals 12-7. Twelve members of this year's team were on the 2009 NCAA Jumbos.

SUNY Cortland is providing live coverage of this weekend's games with live stats and a radio broadcast that can be accessed at this link:

http://www.cortlandreddragons.com/news/2011/5/13/WLAX_0513115312.aspx

NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse

Tufts University Women's Lacrosse

SUNY Cortland Women's Lacrosse

Hamilton College Women's Lacrosse

Colby College Women's Lacrosse

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