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LANCASTER, PA – The #8 nationally ranked Franklin & Marshall College women’s lacrosse team has received an at-large bid and will host Denison University on May 10 at Sponaugle-Williamson Field in an NCAA Championship first round game. Game time is set for 4:00 p.m. with tickets prices for the first round game set at $3.00 for adults and $2.00 for children and students with identification. The bid marks the ninth in the 22-year history of the NCAA Division III women’s lacrosse tournament as the Diplomats previously appeared in the 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1998 tournaments. The game also marks the second time F&M (13-4, 8-1 Centennial Conference) and Denison (8-7) will meet as Franklin & Marshall knocked off the Big Red 11-7 on May 11, 1991 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Lancaster. Historically, Franklin & Marshall is 2-8 in its eight previous NCAA appearances, including a 17-13 loss at Hartwick College in the 1998 first round. The Diplomats enter the tournament ranked #5 in the Laxpower.com, #11 in the Inside Lacrosse and #8 in the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Polls as Franklin & Marshall fell 8-6 to #1 Gettysburg College in the Centennial Conference championship game on April 30. Denison is making its first appearance in the NCAA field since 2001 as the Big Red received their 13th bid to the tournament after capturing their 15th North Coast Athletic Conference championship 11-7 over Allegheny College on May 6. The championship capped off a dramatic season for the Big Red who finished the regular season 6-7 to earn the #4 seed for the NCAC playoffs before upsetting Wooster 10-7 and handling Allegheny to earn the NCAC’s automatic berth to the NCAA tournament. Denison enters the game as an underdog as the Big Red are ranked 84th while the Diplomats rank fifth in the latest Laxpower.com rankings of the nation’s 156 Division III women’s lacrosse programs. Franklin & Marshall is one of three Centennial Conference teams to make the NCAA field as #1 nationally ranked and CC champion Gettysburg College received a first round bye and will host the winner of a first-round game between Messiah College and Mary Washington University on Saturday. #13 Dickinson College, who the Diplomats knocked off 15-12 in the Centennial Conference playoff semifinals, also received an at-large bid and will travel to Springfield College for a first round game on Wednesday. The winner of the F&M-Denison game will advance to the New York Regional in Cortland, New York to take on #14 Nazareth College at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 13 at #5 SUNY-Cortland. In the other regional game set for a 2:30 start, Cortland will take on the winner of a first round game between Colorado College and Endicott College. The victor in the first round regional games will then square off at 1:00 p.m. on May 14 at SUNY-Cortland with the winner advancing to the NCAA “Final Four” at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey to take on the winner of the Mid-Atlantic Regional hosted by Gettysburg College on May 20 at 11:30 a.m. Directions to Sponaugle-Williamson Field are available online at http://wwwdevel.fandm.edu/departments/Athletics/directions.html. Lodging and restaurant information for Lancaster is also available online at http://www1.fandm.edu/x1984.xml One of the most successful Division III women’s lacrosse programs in the nation, Franklin & Marshall has captured six conference titles as the Diplomats have competed in 14 national championship tournaments and recorded a mark of 294-148-3 in 30 years of competition.
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