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The Beat: WDIA The Beat is updated regularly throughout the season by Brian Logue. Send feedback to blogue@uslacrosse.org. All-Tournament Teams Named - May 14 The 2006 US Lacrosse Intercollegiate Associates National Championship All-Tournament Teams were announced on Saturday, May 13 at Tom Kimborugh Stadium in Murphy, Texas. Click the respective team below to see who made it: Division A Division B WDIA
Championship Saturday: Colorado State Ends Season on Top, San Diego repeats Division B title, Cal Poly wins No. 6 - May 13 Follow the IAs here - May 9 US Lacrosse will be posting scores, game recaps and box scores live from Dallas, Texas at the 2006 US Lacrosse Intercollegiate Associates National Championships. Click here to follow the action! The Field is Set - April 27 The field for the 2006 US Lacrosse Intercollegiate Associates Women's National Champoinship has been set and five-time defending champion Cal Poly has its work cut out for itself. The Mustangs are the No. 2 seed after falling to Colorado State 8-7 on April 8. The tournament begins on May 11 in Plano, Texas and you'll be able to follow all of the action on www.uslacrosse.org. Here's a look at the teams and the seeds in this year's tourney: No. 1 Colorado State: CSU, last year's runner-up, has won 20 straight games after falling 9-8 at Cal Poly in its season opener. Their 20 victories include 11 wins over teams in the tournament field. The Rams earned an automatic bid by winning the Rocky Mountain Women's Lacrosse League championship. No. 2 Cal Poly: The Mustangs are the only team to have ever won the US Lacrosse WDIA championship, but being the "underdog" is not completely foreign territory. Cal Poly won last year's tournament as the No. 4 seed. Cal Poly won its first 11 games this year before losing to Colorado State and Michigan in early April. The Mustangs bounced back to beat UCSB in the Western Women's Lacrosse League final. No. 3 Pittsburgh: Pitt defeated Michigan 9-7 in overtime to win the Women's Collegiate Lacrosse League championship. The Panthers, who played in the championship in 2003 and 2004, are 18-1 with just a loss to Colorado State. No. 4 Michigan: Michigan, one of only two schools to beat Cal Poly this year, earned an at-large bid to the championship. The Wolverines are 16-2 and did not allow double-digits to an opponent all season. Michigan is playing in the tournament for the fifth straight year. No. 5 UC-Santa Barbara: The Gauchos earned an at-large bid after falling to Cal Poly in the Western Women's Lacrosse League final. UCSB (11-5) is playing in the WDIA championships for the third straight year and reached the semifinals last year. No. 6 Colorado: Colorado earned an at-large bid to the field and was the runner-up in the Rocky Mountain Women's Lacrosse League. The Buffaloes have just a 9-6 record, but 11 of their 15 games came against ranked opponents. The Buffaloes also played Cal Poly to within a single goal. No. 7 Florida: The 14-1 Gators enter the tournament riding a 10-game winning streak since their 8-6 loss to Navy in mid-February. The Gators beat Georgia to win the Southeastern Women's Lacrosse League championship and advanced to the WDIA tourney for the third straight year. Florida has reached the semifinals the last two years. No. 8 Brigham Young: BYU earned an at-large bid to the field and is playing in the championship for the first time. The 11-3 Cougars played only five ranked teams all season, but one-goal losses to Cal Poly and Colorado (in the RMWLL semifinals) shows that they will be a tough out. No. 9 Maryland (club): The Terps are making their second consecutive trip to the WDIA championship. Maryland (9-4) defeated Navy 8-7 to win the Mid Atlantic Women's Lacrosse League championship. The Terps enter having won five straight since a 9-5 loss to Pitt on April 2. No. 10 Texas A&M: Texas A&M is making its fourth WDIA appearnace after beating Texas 14-5 to win the Texas Women's Lacrosse League championship. The Aggies (15-3) suffered all three of their losses during a late February trip to Arizona, falling to UCLA, Cal Poly and Colorado State. No. 11 Santa Clara: Santa Clara was a late add to the field after Central Plans champion Missouri declined its bid. The Broncos are no stranger to the tournament, having reached the final in 2004 and the quarterfinals last year. Santa Clara beat Maryland played UCSB to within a single goal. No. 12 Navy: Navy earned an at-large bid after falling to Maryland in its conference final. The Mids, one of two schools to play in this event all six years, went 10-5, highlighted by wins over Florida and Santa Clara. Navy is looking to reach the semifinals for the first time since 2003. No. 13 Army: Army, the Eastern Collegiate Women's Lacrosse Association champion, is the only team in the field with a perfect record (11-0) to this point. Army, which hosts Navy on Saturday, played in the inaugural WDIA championship in 2001, but hasn't been back since. Army's 12-11 win over Penn State for the ECWLA championship was its first over a ranked team. No. 14 Northeastern: The Huskies are one of two teams playing in the tournament for the first time. The Huskies (8-5) went 0-3 against teams in the field, including an 11-10 triple overtime loss to Oregon. Northeastern earned the New England Women's Lacrosse League bid. No. 15 Oregon (club): The Ducks are in the field for the second time after winning the Northwest Women's Lacrosse Association championship. Oregon is 15-2, but both losses came against BYU (by a combined score of 37-6) - their only two games against a ranked foe. No. 16 Minnesota-Duluth: Minnesota-Duluth is making its second consecutive WDIA appearance. The Bulldogs beat Minnesota 6-5 to win the Upper Midwest Women's Lacrosse League title. That was one of three-one goal wins for the Bulldogs (15-2). Championship Preview - April 7 In about a month the top teams in the US Lacrosse Women's Division Intercollegiate Associates will gather for the national championship in Texas. But if you can't wait that long, head to Colorado as the top five teams in the latest WDIA poll will compete in Colorado State's Rocky Mountain Shootout. Top-ranked Cal Poly comes into the tournament with a perfect 11-0 record, but should face plenty of challenges. Colorado State has won 13 straight games since losing its opener 9-8 to Cal Poly. Third-ranked Michigan will face the toughest slate in the tournament. The 11-9 Wolverines face No. 1 Cal Poly, No. 2 Colorado State, No. 4 UC-Santa Barbara and No. 5 Colorado. No. 15 Virginia club will also compete. CSU is coming off of a great weekend in which it went 4-0 at Navy's Shootout on the Severn. The Rams beat Maryland club (9-4), Pitt (15-5), Santa Clara (15-4) and Navy (11-8). Pitt also had a great showing at the tournament. The Panthers beat Navy (13-8), Maryland (9-5) and Santa Clara (16-9). Pitt is now 12-1 for the season and rose to No. 6 in the WDIA poll. No. 8 Florida improved to 11-1 with a dramatic 9-8 four overtime victory over Georgia last weekend. The Gators can wrap up the top seed for the Southeastern Women's Lacrosse League tournament and an undefeated conference season with a win over No. 18 Central Florida this weekend. UCF is 9-2 and hasn't lost since February. Shootout on the Severn - March 31 The biggest WDIA tournament in nearly a month takes place this weekend in Annapolis, Md., with Navy hosting the "Shootout on the Severn." Five of the top 15 WDIA teams in the country, including No. 2 Colorado State will compete. Also participating are No. 8 Pitt, No. 10 Navy, No. 12 Santa Clara and No. 15 Maryland (club). This tournament should have some significant impact on the field and seedings for this year's US Lacrosse WDIA National Championship tournament in Dallas. Speaking of the Lone Star State, No. 11 Texas A&M hosts archrival Texas this weekend in a key Texas Women's Lacrosse League game. Both schools have participated in past WDIA national tournaments. The Southeastern Women's Lacrosse League also has a big showdown this weekend with No. 5 Florida and No. 14 Georgia meeting at Clemson. Georgia nipped Miami 13-11 last weekend and has won four straight to improve to 8-2. Florida has won five straight to climb to its highest ranking of the season. Out West, top-ranked Cal Poly returns to action for the first time in nearly a month. The 9-0 Mustangs play the UC-Davis club team and No. 17 Chico State. Rocky Mountain High - March 24 The weekend schedule in the WDIA features an intriguing match-up in the Rocky Mountain Women's Lacrosse League. Second-ranked Colorado State heads to No. 7 Brigham Young. BYU is 7-1 and dominated play at Pepperdine's Four Points tournament last weekend. The Cougars outscored their opponents 73-9, including a 20-3 win over previously unbeaten Oregon (club). CSU, last year's national runner-up is off to a 5-1 start. Both teams only loss came to top-ranked Cal Poly, and both losses were by a single goal. The other top match-ups of the weekend take place in the Southeastern Women's Lacrosse League. No. 6 Florida (8-1) plays at No. 23 Florida State (4-1) and No. 15 Georgia (6-2) plays at No. 19 Miami (4-4). Same Old Song - March 16 There was little change in this week's WDIA poll due to limited activiity among the top-ranked teams. The two biggest movers were Chico State and Maryland's club team. Chico State moved up three spots to No. 15 behind wins over Loyola Marymount and Minnesota last weekend, but the Wildcats suffered their first loss - 11-10 in overtime to UC-San Diego on Tuesday. Maryland moved up four spots to No. 16 after sweeping the club teams from Towson, Delaware and Salisbury over the weekend to improve to 4-1. In other action, No. 3 Michigan returned to the field for the first time in nearly a month and won four games by lopsided scores. UC-Santa Barbara edged Santa Clara 12-11 to move up one spot in the rankings to No. 7. No. 9 UCLA beat San Diego State and Arizona State and has now won seven in a row to improve to 10-4 for the season. This weekend's schedule is highlighted by the Four Points tournament at Pepperdine. The Waves will host No. 8 Brigham Young and No. 22 Oregon along with Arizona and Northeastern. The BYU-Oregon tilt is set for Friday morning. Mustang March - March 8 Cal Poly took down another contender in the Western Women's Lacrosse League on Saturday, beating then fourth-ranked UC-Santa Barbara 12-3. The Mustangs then improved to 9-0 with an 18-4 win over San Diego State on Sunday. Cal Poly is a unanimous No. 1 in the latest WDIA poll, but will be idle until April. The Mustangs close their schedule with seven teams ranked in the Top 20, including No. 2 Colorado State, No. 3 Michigan and No. 4 Colorado. On the other side of the country, Navy picked up a big 9-8 victory over Maryland in a match-up of two WDIA tournament teams from a year ago. The marquee game for this weekend pits No. 4 Colorado (5-1) travelling to No. 8 Brigham Young (3-1) for a Rocky Mountain Women's Lacrosse League tilt. BYU has not played since suffering a 7-6 loss to Cal Poly on Feb. 25. The WWLL also has a pair of big games with No. 7 UCSB hosting No. 13 Santa Clara and unbeaten No. 18 Chico State heading to Loyola Marymount.
Closer to Home - March 3 After a couple of weekends of big intersectional games, this weekend's WDIA slate will be highlighted by two rivalry games. Defending national champion Cal Poly (7-0) meets up with UC-Santa Barbara (3-0) for early bragging rights within the Western Women's Lacrosse League. On the East Coast, Navy (4-2) hosts Maryland's (1-0) club team on Friday afternoon. All four teams played in the US Lacrosse Women's Division Intercollegiate Associates National Championship tournament last year. Speaking of the IA championship, it appears the fans in Dallas will be in for quite a treat this May. Cal Poly has won this tournament each of the five times it has been held, including a 14-3 victory over Colorado State in last year's championship. Cal Poly has clearly established itself as the team to beat, but if this past weekend in Arizona was any indication, the games will be highly competitive. Cal Poly went 4-0 over the weekend with wins over Brigham Young, Colorado State, Arizona State and Texas A&M in the Cactus Classic, but both the BYU and CSU games were one-goal games. Panthers, Wolverines Roll - Feb. 20 Michigan and Pittsburgh each came away smiling after their trips to Miami for the Fun in the Sun Tournament. The Wolverines picked up solid wins over Miami, Towson Club, Virginia Club and Virginia Tech club to run their record to 5-0 for the season. Junior Noelle Frazier scored 14 goals in the four victories for the Wolverines. Pitt beat the same four teams and is now 8-0 this season, but will be idle until March 18. A little further north, no one came away unscathed, but there was some quality lacrosse at the Sunshine State Invitational in Orlando. Florida scored impressive victories over Rhode Island (11-8), Michigan State (15-4) and Colorado (9-6) before losing to Navy 8-6 in its final game. Navy had opened with losses to Central Florida (11-10) and Colorado (12-8) before bouncing back with wins over Georgia (14-10), Florida (8-6) and Michigan State (11-9). Central Florida and Colorado were the other big winners in the Sunshine State Invitational. Central Florida went 2-1, highlighted by the victory over Navy. Colorado was 4-1 with victories over Central Florida (18-4), Navy (12-8), Rhode Island (10-8) and Georgia (13-9). Out West, Cal Poly and UC-Santa Barbara each picked up victories over UCLA. Cal Poly thrashed the Bruins 17-2 after beating them just 8-4 earlier in the year. UCSB beat the Bruins 8-6 to improve to 2-0 for the season. The eyes of the WDIA will be on Arizona this weekend with BYU, Cal Poly, Colorado State, Penn State Club, Texas A&M, UCLA and Washington among the teams playing games with Arizona, Arizona State and amongst themselves. Bruins Back - Feb. 14 Texas A&M racked up four wins over the weekend to run its record to 6-0, but the most impressive performance of the weekend was probably turned in by UCLA. The Bruins upset Santa Clara 9-8 to improve to 3-1 for the season with the only loss coming against five-time WDIA champion Cal Poly. UCLA, the WDIA runner-up in 2003, is coming off of a sixth-place finish in the Western Women's Lacrosse League. The Bruins and Cal Poly meet in a rematch this Saturday. Meg Korce, one of the top scorers in the WDIA the last few years, had six goals in Texas A&M's 11-4 victory over Lindenwood on Sunday. The Aggies have outscored their first six opponents 87-8, but have a big challenge coming up in a little over a week. Texas A&M plays Cal Poly and Colorado State, last year's WDIA finalists, on Feb. 26 in Arizona. Florida will be the center of the WDIA world this weekend with two big tournaments. Central Florida is hosting the Sunshine State Invitational in Orlando with Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Michigan State, Navy and Rhode Island coming down. Miami is hosting the Fun in the Sun Tournament with Michigan, Towson, Virginia and Virginia Tech among the teams competing with the host Hurricanes. Blazing Start - Feb. 10 Lisa Furst and the University of Miami started their season with a performance to remember. The Hurricanes beat Central Florida 17-10 behind a 15-point performance by senior Lisa Furst. Furst tallied 12 goals and three assists in the victory. Next up for the Hurricanes is the Fun in the Sun Tournament in Miami from Feb. 17-19. Miami will host Michigan, Pittsburgh, Virginia and Virginia Tech in the tournament. Central Florida opened the season with a 19-8 victory over South Florida on Jan. 29 at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex. That game was the second game of a double-header, following the U.S. national team against defending NCAA Division I champion Northwestern. Lindenwood University recently announced that three of its five home games for 2006 will be broadcast on LU-TV. LU-TV 26 is the higher education cable for St. Charles (Mo.) County. It is available to the county's 50,000 Charter Cable subscribers. The televised games will be: Wisconsin (Feb. 18), Missouri (April 4) and Washington University-St. Louis (April 11). Lindenwood opens its season on Feb. 11 at NCAA Division III foe, the University of Dallas.
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