Printer-Friendly Format     E-mail this article     Jillian Byers leads the Irish in scoring with 61 goals and 73 points heading into the BIG EAST Championship at Notre Dame Stadium.

Notre Dame Stadium to play host to BIG EAST championship April 25 and 27.

April 20, 2008

Providence, R.I. - The University of Notre Dame will play host to the 2008 BIG EAST women's lacrosse championship with the semifinals to be played on Friday, April 25 and the championship game on Sunday, April 27. All three games will be played at Notre Dame Stadium, home of the football Fighting Irish. This will be the first women's varsity event to be held at Notre Dame Stadium.

For the second year in a row, the same four teams have qualified for the championship with the semifinal match ups a repeat of the 2007 tournament with only the seeds changing.

Notre Dame will enter the tournament as the second seed as the Irish finished the BIG EAST schedule with a 4-1 record. Overall, the Irish are 11-5 on the year and ranked eighth in the most recent IWLCA coaches' poll. Last season, they were the tournament's fourth seed and faced top-seeded Georgetown.

The Irish will face this year's third-seed, the Georgetown Hoyas in the second semifinal on April 25. The Hoyas are 10-5 overall and finished third in the BIG EAST with a 3-2 record. They are ranked ninth in the IWLCA poll. Last year, Georgetown knocked the Irish out of the tournament with a 12-8 win as the top seed. The Notre Dame-Georgetown semifinal will begin 45 minutes following the first game at approximately 7:45 p.m.

The first semifinal will pit the top-seeded team in the conference - the Syracuse Orange - against the fourth-seeded Rutgers Scarlet Knights at 5:30 p.m. Syracuse enters the tournament on a six-game winning streak and was 5-0 in the conference this season. Overall, the Orange is 13-2 on the season and started the week ranked fifth in the nation by the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches' Association. (IWLCA). A year ago, the Orange hosted the tournament at the Carrier Dome as the number two seed.

Rutgers is the fourth-seed in the tournament after being a third-seed last year. The Scarlet Knights dropped a 20-9 decision to Notre Dame in their final BIG EAST game on April 20 and are 7-9 overall and 2-3 in conference play. They lost to Syracuse last season in the semifinals.

Both semifinals will be streamed live online for free at www.bigeast.tv. CBS College Sports will televise the BIG EAST Women's Lacrosse Championship game live nationally at noon on April 27.

The BIG EAST Tournament champion receives the league's automatic bid to the 16-team NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship.

Tickets for the BIG EAST Women's Lacrosse Championship can be purchased at the Notre Dame ticket office. Tickets are $4.00 for adults and $2.00 for Youths (18 years and under) and Senior Citizens. BIG EAST students with ID and kids five years and under are free.

For ticket information, contact the Notre Dame Ticket Office at 574-631-7356.