Women's lacrosse will be announcing tournament brackets on Sunday night for DI and DIII. There is no DII championship as we previously reported. DI will have a twelve team bracket and DIII will have sixteen. Sounds pretty simple, right? Well, throw in some AQ's and try to stay with us. This article may get confusing at times, but we may be able to shed some light on the process for you. Good luck.

We'll break down the twelve teams that will make it to the division I tournament for women first. Before we begin, the number of the seeding is based on season play and doesn't necessarily represent who we think will win. For example, Duke is seeded eigth, but we think they pose one of the biggest threats to the defending champs (Maryland Terps). It's simply a prediction of who will make it and how they will be seeded.

The number one seed may have been in some question for most of the season, but when the Maryland Terps crushed the Carolina Heels in the ACC Tournament 17-6, they erased any doubt. Maryland had its only loss come at the hands of Carolina early in the season, but it looked like a fluke after the ACC Tournament. Maryland can only beat themselves this year.

Virginia should get the second seed as they finished up strong with a huge win over Loyola and a season finale against Vanderbilt. They also played Maryland tight in the ACC Tournament, losing only 8-6. Having seen the game first hand, it wasn't as close as the score indicated, but that will way heavily in their seeding.

The #3 spot belongs to James Madison, who lost to Georgetown and Maryland down the stretch. They were both two goal losses and they finished with a quality win over Duke, 16-14. They've also showed the kind of goal scoring potential against quality teams that will be key in the play-offs. They chipped in 15 on Maryland and 16 on Duke. If they can shore up their defense they have a great shot at it.

North Carolina comes in at the #4 bracket. Fluke or not, beating Maryland has to have some pull in these seedings. Actually, their loss to Maryland was the only loss in their last six games, giving them victories over Duke, and most importantly, Dartmouth.

Dartmouth gets the AQ for winning the Ivy League this year, but they would've made the show anyway. After losing to North Carolina by one goal they have one game left. If they can wallup the Syracuse Orangewomen, they may be seeded fifth. Otherwise, Princeton is their only bigtime win, and they'll most likely slip further down.

Princeton gets seeded #6 on account of their poor finish. They had a helluva' year with huge wins over Duke, Georgetown, and Virginia; but they have notoriously come up short in the play-offs. With late season losses to Dartmouth and Maryland, followed by a narrow victory over unranked Brown, Princeton looks like it may be headed down that same path.

Loyola checks in next as the first ever AQ in the history of DI womens' lacrosse. They won the CAA in a game against James Madison in mid-April. Despite two season ending losses, Loyola has had a season worthy of the seven spot. Performing well in the CAA Tournament is a major plus, as they've shown they're battle tested in a tournament setting.

Duke may come in around the eigth seed, but they are by far the best 10-5 team in the nation. All of their losses came to teams above them in this article, but besides a four goal loss to Maryland, Duke never lost by more than two. If Shannon Chaney can play in net like she did in the ACC Tounament, and Duke's scorers in Tricia Martin and Kate Kaiser can put together sixty minute performances, they have the best chance at winning the tournament (after Maryland, of course).

Georgetown has been a mystery all year. Had they been more consistant they would get a better seeding, but expect them to be around the 9 spot. The reason is, you never know what you're gonna' get with them. They broke even in bigtime games with wins over James Madison, North Carolina, and Syracuse; with losses to Princeton, Duke, and Maryland. Losing to Penn State on 4/29 was also detrimental to their seeding.

Syracuse, providing they put up a good showing against Dartmouth, will get the 10th spot. Even if the beat Dartmouth, don't look for them to move up. Dartmouth will just move back a couple of slots. Syracuse hasn't lost since the first three games of the season when they played Virginia, Georgetown, and Maryland to open at 0-3. Since then they have gone undefeated, but they only beat the teams that they were supposed to.

The last two spots will be filled by Delaware and Boston University. Each team had one win against a substantial opponent, Delaware over James Madison and BU over North Carolina. After that they are a wash at 13-3, but in head to head action BU took Delaware in a 10-6 match on 4/16. Delaware still has to play the AEC Tournament and may or may not gain status from that.

DIII Women

DIII womens' lacrosse has been dominated by a few key institutions in the past, but with the explosion of growth in the ladies game we can hope for some more competition. When Amherst knocked off The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) in the semis last year, no one saw it coming. Middlebury took the National Championship in the end; not much of a surprise. In fact, Middlebury has established itself as an equal to TCNJ, taking two of the last three titles. They have a long way to go, however; TCNJ has won ten championships since 1985. The only other team to win it since '85 was Ursinus, who last won in '90. Once again, TCNJ will be the #1 seed with a perfect 13-0 season, but there will be plenty of quality teams for them to face. Or will there be? With ten AQ's being handed out this year it may be TCNJ's easiest road to the finals in a long time. Incidently, CN8 Comcast NJ will be televising the DI and DIII finals starting at noon on May 21st.

Women's DIII has a sixteen team bracket, which is what DI programs think will solve all their problems. Ironically, DIII may have more weak teams in their tournament than the DI tournament. The reason is that womens' lacrosse has many more teams, hence many more conferences, and so more AQ's to hand out. Actually, ten of the sixteen will be AQ's. Which teams will be making the play-offs,and how did they get there?

The New England Womens Alliance is in the middle of their tournament deciding who will get the AQ. Bridgewater State will most likely make it to the final out of the South,and Plymouth State will face New England College in the Northern semis. The second two teams went into double overtime in the regular season before Plymouth came out on top, 15-12. None of these teams are ranked in the top twenty.

One AQ down and nine more to go. Hamilton will receive one for the Upstate Collegiate Association. With a ranking of #17 its difficult to argue this one. Cortland State hammered Oswego State 18-4 in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) to get a free pass, but with a #6 ranking they are no Cinderella team. Wellesley topped Smith 23-7 to snag the NEWMAC AQ. Wellesley is another team not ranked in the top twenty, but we wish them the best. Randolph-Macon picked up the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Championship by beating Lynchburg in the finals, 13-7. They were ranked a strong #12 this week. Five down and five to go.

Cabrini defeated Eastern 15-10 in the Pensylvania Athletic Conference Championship (PAC) to shore up a spot in the post season. The New England Small College Athletic Conference is in transition this year; they don't have a tournament and don't necessarily play everyone within the conference. They have decided to elect a team for the AQ and that will be headed up by the Conference Directors on Saturday. Next year, there will be a tournament. Amherst, Middlebury, and Williams are the three strongest candidates. The North Coast Athletic Conference will take place over the weekend. Oberlin, Denison, Wooster, and Kenyon will battle it out. None of them would make it without an AQ. Drew was perfect in the Mid Atlantic Conference to attain the AQ and are a ranked at #11 after thrashing a solid Rowan team 18-8. Finally, Gettysburg went 9-0 in the Centennial Conference to receive an AQ. They will be another strong AQ with a current #9 ranking. That wraps up the AQ's, leaving six spots.

Stay with me on this now. One spot goes to a Conference runner up. Whichever team is the strongest second place team in the nation. This team will come out of the NESCAC which means that despite Tufts, Bowdoin, Amherst, Williams, and Middlebury all being currently in the top 16, only two of them will advance. The reason AQ's were installed was to break up such monopolies on tournament seedings. The two teams that will come out will be between Amherst, Williams, and Middlebury.

The final five spots will go to Independent teams or teams from conferences that don't get an AQ. That means that although Mary Washington is in the Capital Athletic Conference, they still qualify as an independent because their conference does not get an AQ. So, who will fill up the last five spots? Most likely the higher seedings in the bracket. TCNJ is a shoe-in for one. Currently ranked #6, Mary Washington is not in question. Perennial powerhouse, William Smith, will be invited again. Salisbury State is also not in doubt. The final spots will be between Rowan and Nazareth, but we'll only know for sure Sunday night when the brackets will be announced.

HOLY MACKERAL