BALTIMORE, Md. – The Notre Dame of Maryland women's lacrosse team is preparing for their toughest challenge to date, when they face Ithaca College on Sunday, May 9^th, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Gators (7-0) are one of 33-teams that earned their way into to tournament via automatic qualification, winning their conference championship. The Bombers of Ithaca (12-1) are one of four teams that were chosen as at-large bids, to complete the 37-team bracket. The Bombers entered the Liberty League tournament ranked #7 in the country in the coaches' poll. After their loss to #19 William Smith in the conference title game, U.S. Lacrosse Magazine dropped Ithaca from #6 to #11 in their rankings.

This is the Gators second trip to the NCAA Tournament. They were eliminated by Westminster (PA) in the first round in 2019.

Ithaca has more experience on the big stage, earning their 13^th NCAA Tournament berth. They are 4-12 in the NCAA's in team history, with wins in 2016, 2017, and 2019. They are also battle tested having played four games against ranked opponents on the year, three of which were against #19 William Smith, and going 3-1 in the four contests.

Both the Gators and Bombers are no strangers to scoring goals this season. Notre Dame averaging 18 per game. Ithaca, 16.9. Ithaca takes more shots per game (37.1), but you could argue that Notre Dame would average more (32.3) if they didn't outscore opponents by so much that they could go on cruise control late in games, using almost the full 90-second shot clock on each possession, not to mention the running clock when up by 10 or more goals.

All of the potential shooting will put the goalkeepers to the test. Gators Senior, Marie Salas, has dominated all season in net. Her 3.86 goals-against average is best in the country. A save percentage of 65.4 places second in the country and her 10.7 saves per game in her career is fourth among active goalkeepers.

Along with Salas, stout defense from CSAC Defensive Player of the Year, Michaela Seay, and CSAC Championship Game MVP, Jaime Ballard, helped rank the Gators fourth in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 3.86 goals per game. and seventh in the nation in scoring margin, winning by an average of 14.1 points,

The matchup that could give the Gators an advantage in this game is between CSAC Rookie of the Year, Sara Morales, and Liberty League Offensive Player of the Year, Jacqui Hallack. Both women lead their teams in most of the offensive categories. But the draw circle is the key to gaining possession. Hallack leads her team with 85 draw controls (6.5 per game) as does Morales with 59 (8.4 per game). But Morales at 5'10", has an eight-inch height advantage over her counterpart in this game. Hallack is listed at 5'2". On those draws that send the ball straight up, Morales should be able to reach out and gain possession with ease.

You can catch the game live, here. Links can also be found on the lacrosse schedule page. Opening draw is scheduled for 11:30am Sunday, May 9^th. The host school is Washington and Lee University.

Check out the NCAA Tournament bracket here.
 
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