May 5, 2008

Chapel Hill - The University of North Carolina women's lacrosse team has received a bid to play in the 2008 NCAA Tournament and will open play in the first round on Sunday May 11 at Atlantic Coast Conference champion Virginia in Charlottesville, Va., the NCAA announced on Monday night.

The winner of Sunday's game will advance to play Syracuse or Towson in the NCAA quarterfinals on Saturday, May 17.

"We're very excited about being part of the 16-team NCAA Tournament for 2008," head coach Jenny Levy said on Monday night. "It's a really competitive tournament, probably the most parity in the tournament that I've ever seen. I think all the games could go either way."

"We're excited about playing Virginia. They're a familiar foe, obviously, and they've had a great season up to this point. We're just looking forward to going back up to Charlottesville and being part of the NCAA Tournament. We're going to take it one game at a time."

Carolina is unseeded in the field while the Cavaliers are the No. 4 seed. Three-time defending NCAA champion Northwestern is the top seed, followed by No. 2 seed Pennsylvania, No. 3 Maryland, the fourth-seeded Cavaliers, No. 5 Syracuse, No. 6 Georgetown, No. 7 Boston University and No. 8 Princeton. Unseeded Duke joins UNC, Virginia and Maryland in representing the ACC in the field.

The Tar Heels, ranked No. 12 in the nation by both Inside Lacrosse and the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA), will be facing UVa, which is ranked No. 3 in both polls. Carolina has posted a 12-6 record thus far this season and went 2-3 in ACC regular-season competition. Virginia is 14-3 overall, 4-1 in conference play.

Earlier this season on March 16, UVa beat UNC, 16-5, in Charlottesville.

Carolina went 2-3 in Atlantic Coast Conference regular season play this season and reached the semifinals of the ACC Tournament two weeks ago in Charlottesville. The Tar Heels have reached the quarterfinals of each of the last three NCAA Tournaments and made Final Four appearances in 1997, 1998 and 2002.