DATE: May 1, 2001 CONTACT: Brian Logue
RELEASE: Upon Receipt (410) 235-6882 x106
blogue@lacrosse.org

Bids Awarded For US Lacrosse Intercollegiate Associates National Championships

Baltimore — The fields are set for the 2001 US Lacrosse Intercollegiate Associates National Championships, which will be held from May 8-13 at the Anheuser-Busch Sports Centre in St. Louis. This marks the fifth year for the men's championship and the inaugural year for the women's championship. Intercollegiate associates are non-varsity teams that compete for colleges throughout the country. There are over 100 men's and women's programs each.

Earning the top seed in the 16-team men's draw was the University of Michigan, which is making its third straight trip to St. Louis after winning the Central Collegiate Lacrosse Association title. Defending national champion BYU is seeded second and 1999 champion Colorado State drew the third seed. Both compete in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League. Other favorites include West Coast Lacrosse League champion Sonoma State (No. 4 seed), Pacific Northwest Collegiate Lacrosse League champion Simon Fraser (No. 5 seed) and Lone Star Alliance champion Texas A&M (No. 6 seed). Rounding out the field are California (No. 7), Auburn (No. 8), Cal-Santa Barbara (No. 9), Virginia Tech (No. 10), Colorado (No. 11), Stanford (No. 12), Arizona (No. 13), Rhode Island (No. 14), Tennessee (No. 15) and Minnesota-Duluth (No. 16).

The men's championship will begin play on May 8. The quarterfinal round of games will be played on May 9. Teams in the winners bracket will have off on Thursday before the semifinal and final rounds are contested on Friday and Saturday, May 11 and 12.

Service academies Army and Navy drew the top two seeds for the inaugural eight-team women's draw. The field is divided into two four-team pools. Pool A features top-seeded Navy, No. 2 seed Northwestern, which is coached by US team member Kelly Amonte-Hiller and will be a varsity program next year, No. 3 seed Texas A&M and No. 4 seed Michigan State. Pool B is led by No. 1 seed Army and includes No. 2 seed Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, No. 3 seed Georgia and No. 4 seed Miami University.

Each women's team will play two games on May 12 and the top two teams from each pool will advance to a four-team single elimination tournament on May 13 to determine the champion.

Street & Smith's 360lacrosse.com is the official web site for the intercollegiate associates and will provide real-time coverage of the tournament.

US Lacrosse, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization, is the national governing body of men's and women's lacrosse.