Thursday, December 14, 2006
HANOVER, N.H. - The NCAA runner-up last spring, the Dartmouth women's lacrosse team is prepping for a 16-game schedule in 2007 that features matchups with eight top-20 teams from 2006.
On the slate are four top-10 teams from the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) end-of-season poll. On May 6 in the final regular season game, the Big Green will travel to Duke which made it to the NCAA final four. Maryland (March 17 at home), Boston University (April 25 on the road) and Cornell (April 7 at home) were NCAA first round teams.
Also among the nation's top 20 are NCAA quarterfinalist James Madison (March 20 at JMU), Princeton (April 21 in Hanover), Syracuse (February 24 at home) and Penn (April 14 in Philadelphia).
The Ivy League conference shapes up to be extremely competitive in 2007 as four of the schools - Dartmouth, Cornell, Princeton and Penn - are all top 20 teams.
The Big Green also will have a preseason scrimmage against NCAA semi-finalist Notre Dame on February 10 in Hanover. Dartmouth knocked off the Fighting Irish, 14-8, in the one of the national semi-final games last May.
After opening the regular season with Syracuse at Scully-Fahey Field on February 24, Dartmouth hosts cross-state rival New Hampshire on March 3.
Eight of the Big Green's games are home. This year's NCAA final four will be hosted by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field.