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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. A 16-game schedule, including eight home games at Klckner Stadium and six contests with teams that participated in last year’s NCAA Championships, highlight the 2009 Virginia women’s lacrosse schedule announced today. The most notable contest on the slate is a regular-season finale at home against four-time defending national champion Northwestern
“We’re extremely excited about our spring schedule,” said head coach Julie Myers, the 2008 ACC Coach of the Year. “This is the most active and complete our schedule has been in many years, so we’ll have to be on our toes and prepared for every game through to the end of May.”
The Cavaliers, coming off their third-straight Atlantic Coast Conference Championship, open the season Feb. 18 by hosting conference rival Virginia Tech. Later in the week, Virginia will travel to Loyola (Feb. 21) before returning to Charlottesville to face in-state rival Richmond on Feb. 25.
On Feb. 28, Virginia will head to Syracuse to face the Big East Champions in a double-header with the men’s lacrosse team, before returning home to take on co-ACC regular season champion Maryland (March 6) and Penn State on March 8.
Virginia will head to Chapel Hill, N.C., on March 14 to seek redemption against North Carolina, which eliminated the Cavaliers from the 2008 NCAA Tournament.
In-state rival William & Mary and Princeton, who the Cavaliers lost to in the final seconds of last year’s contest, will visit Klckner Stadium on March 17 and 21, respectively. Virginia then travels to James Madison on March 24.
League-foe Duke will visit Charlottesville on March 28 before the Cavaliers head on the road for their final four away contests. Virginia will take on to Old Dominion in Norfolk on April 1 before heading to Boston College for the final regular-season ACC contest on April 4.
Harvard will host the Cavaliers on April 5. The match is the first between the two programs since 1993, when Virginia escaped with an 11-10 overtime victory in the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament, en route to the program’s second national title.
The Cavaliers will close out the road portion of their schedule with a game at George Mason on April 14 before returning home for their regular-season finale with Northwestern on April 19.
The Cavaliers will begin their postseason in Blacksburg, Va., looking to defend their ACC title on April 23-26. The winner of the tournament will earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. First and second round NCAA Tournament games will be played at campus sites on May 10 and 16, with Towson hosting the Final Four on May 22 and 24.
Prior to the start of regular season competition, the Cavaliers will take part in scrimmages against the U.S. National Elite and Developmental teams and the Japan National team on Jan. 30 and Feb. 1. Virginia will also participate in scrimmages at 2008 national runner-up Pennsylvania on Feb. 14.
“To start at the end of January, in Florida, playing the best competition possible is sure to give our preseason a boost,” Myers said. “To then scrimmage Penn in early February and host Northwestern in late April will provide great tests that will surround our consistently tough ACC and non-ACC opponents.”