INDIANAPOLIS – The Washington & Jefferson College women's lacrosse team is set to make its fourth NCAA Division III Tournament appearance after the NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Committee announced the 46 teams that will compete in the 2023 NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Championship.
W&J will square off with Meredith College in a first-round game on Saturday, May 13 at 6 p.m. Salisbury University and Sea Gull Stadium were selected to host the first and second rounds of the tournament. The winner of Saturday's first round game will face Salisbury in the second round on Sunday, May 14 at 6 p.m.
The Presidents enter the NCAA Tournament on a school record 14-game winning streak. W&J captured the Presidents' Athletic Conference title on Saturday, May 6 with a 14-10 win over Allegheny College. The PAC title was the third-straight for the Presidents, who finished 15-3 overall and 9-0 in conference play. The W&J senior class finished their careers with 31-0 record against conference competition.
W&J earned four major awards from the PAC in the postseason.
Sarah Labovitz (Great Falls, Va./The Bullis School) earned Midfielder Player of the Year while
Amanda Effland (Frederick, Md./Frederick) was Offensive Player of the Year and
Caleigh Bogats (Oakdale, Pa./Chartiers Valley) claimed Rookie of the Year honors.
Alison Valerio took home Coach of the Year honors for the fourth time in her career.
Meredith captured its ninth consecutive USA South Championship with an 11-10 victory over Southern Virginia on Saturday. The Avenging Angels enter the tournament with a 16-4 overall record.
Salisbury finished the regular season with a 14-3 overall record and a 2-0 record in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C). The Sea Gulls captured its third consecutive C2C Championship with a 14-8 win on Saturday over CNU.
The 2023 NCAA Division III National Championship Weekend will start on Friday, May 26 with the national semifinals. The NCAA Championship will take place on Sunday, May 28 at Kerr Stadium in Salem, Va.
Thirty-two conferences have been awarded automatic qualification for the championship. One team has been selected from Pool B, which consists of independent institutions and institutions that are members of conferences that do not meet the requirements for automatic qualification. The final thirteen berths are reserved for Pool C, which includes the remaining institutions in conferences with automatic qualification that are not the conference champion plus remaining independents and members of non-qualifying conferences.
Fourteen first-round games will be conducted Friday, May 12 or Saturday, May 13 with the winners advancing to the second round. Sixteen second-round games will be conducted on Saturday, May 13 or Sunday, May 14 with the winners advancing to one of four regional sites Saturday and Sunday, May 20-21. Winners of the four regionals will advance to the semifinals and final, which take place Saturday and Sunday, May 26-28 at Kerr Stadium in Salem, Virginia. The Old Dominion Athletic Conference and the City of Salem will serve as hosts for the championship.
Conferences and Teams Receiving Automatic Qualification (32):
- Atlantic East Conference: Cabrini
- Centennial Conference: Franklin & Marshall College
- Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin :University of Chicago
- Colonial States Athletic Conference: Bryn Athyn
- Commonwealth Coast Conference: Roger Williams
- Empire 8: St. John Fisher
- Great Northeast Athletic Conference: Johnson & Wales University (Providence)
- Heartland Collegiate Women's Lacrosse Conference: Transylvania
- Landmark Conference: Scranton
- Liberty League: William Smith
- Little East Conference: Plymouth State
- Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference: Westfield State
- Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association: Hope
- Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth: York (Pennsylvania)
- Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom: Stevens Institute of Technology
- Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference: Lake Forest
- New England Small College Athletic Conference: Middlebury
- New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference: Babson
- New Jersey Athletic Conference: The College of New Jersey
- North Atlantic Conference: SUNY Canton
- North Coast Athletic Conference: Denison
- Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference: Aurora
- Northwest Conference: George Fox
- Ohio Athletic Conference: Capital
- Old Dominion Athletic Conference: Washington & Lee
- Presidents' Athletic Conference: Washington and Jefferson
- Skyline Conference: Merchant Marine
- Southern Athletic Association: Rhodes
- Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference: Pomona-Pitzer
- State University of New York Athletic Conference: SUNY Geneseo
- United East Conference: St. Mary's (Maryland)
- USA South Athletic Conference: Meredith
Pool B Berths (1):
Pool C Berths (13):
- Christopher Newport
- Colby
- SUNY Cortland
- DePauw
- Gettysburg
- Kenyon
- Messiah
- MIT
- Mount Union
- Roanoke
- Trinity (CT)
- Tufts
- Wesleyan (CT)
