Santa Clara, Cal Club Earn Top WDIA Seeds

from press release

BALTIMORE – Santa Clara and UC Berkeley Club have earned the top seeds for the 2010 US Lacrosse Women's Division Intercollegiate Associates (WDIA) National Championships, which will be presented by Harrow Sports. Santa Clara is the top seed in the Division I bracket while UC Berkeley Club is the top seed in the inaugural Division II championship. The tournament will be held May 5-8 at the Scottsdale (Ariz.) Sports Complex.

Santa Clara defeated UC Santa Barbara 12-6 in the Western Women's Lacrosse League (WWLL) championship game on Sunday to complete an 18-1 regular season. The Broncos, who played in the WDIA championship game in 2004, are looking for their first national title and headline the 16-team Division I field.

Lindenwood, the champion of the Women's Collegiate Lacrosse League, is the No. 2 seed and is followed by three other WWLL teams in the top five in the seeding: No. 3 UCSB, No. 4 UC Davis Club and No. 5 Cal Poly.

Defending national champion Virginia Tech earned the No. 6 seed and draws 2008 national champion Colorado State, the No. 11 seed, in the first round of the tournament. Rounding out the field are Brigham Young (No. 7), Georgia (No. 8), Colorado (No. 9), Florida Club (No. 10), Texas (No. 12), Boston College Club (No. 13), Oregon Club (No. 14), Minnesota (No. 15) and West Chester Club (No. 16).

Selections for the field were extremely competitive and the selection committee used a variety of criteria to base their decisions: The committee takes into account the following for determining at large bids: strength of schedule, overall record, record versus ranked teams (top 5, top 10, top 15, top 20, top 25), won-loss versus common opponents, record versus WDIA teams (inside/outside of conference; national play), record last five (5) games (including post-season league tournament play), quality wins, quality losses, upsets (especially on the road and late in the season), difference in number of wins and losses against teams +/- (.500), independent committee member evaluations, head to head results, conference playoff performance, final conference standings, Lax Power TSI Ranking and total number of losses.

In the inaugural Division II bracket, UC Berkeley Club earned the top seed. The Bears beat Cal Poly B 9-7 in the WWLL Division II championship game on Sunday. Cal went 15-1 this season, losing only to Santa Clara before ending the regular season with 13-game winning streak. Joining the Bears in the championship are Oakland (Mich.) University., (No. 2), Loyola (Md.) University Club (No. 3), University of San Diego (No. 4), University of Denver Club (No. 5), University of North Carolina Club (No. 6), Southern Methodist University(No. 7) and the College of St. Benedict (No. 8).

The US Lacrosse WDIA structure consists of approximately 175 college club teams from around the country. Further information about the WDIA is available online at www.uslacrosse.org/wdia.

Youth Lacrosse Clinic in Scottsdale
US Lacrosse's Fast Break Initiative, along with Arizona Girls Lacrosse will host a free youth clinic at the Scottsdale Sports Complex in conjunction with the WDIA National Championship Game. Each participant will receive a free lacrosse stick and pair of goggles! It will be held on Saturday, May 8, 2010, before the WDIA national championship games from 8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m. For more information and to register, please visit http://www.uslacrosse.org/TopNav2Right/ProgramsGrants/FastBreakInitiative.aspx.

Division I First Round Games (Wednesday, May 5)
No. 1 Santa Clara vs. No. 16 West Chester Club
No. 2 Lindenwood vs. No. 15 Minnesota
No. 3 UCSB vs. No. 14 Oregon Club
No. 4 UC Davis Club vs. No. 13 Boston College Club
No. 5 Cal Poly vs. No. 12 Texas
No. 6 Virginia Tech Club vs. No. 11 Colorado State
No. 7 Brigham Young vs. No. 10 Florida Club
No. 8 Georgia vs. No. 9 Colorado

Division II First Round Games (Thursday, May 6)
No. 1 Cal-Berkeley Club vs. No. 8 St. Benedict
No. 2 Oakland (Mich.) vs. No. 7 Southern Methodist
No. 3 Loyola (Md.) Club vs. No. 6 North Carolina Club
No. 4 San Diego vs. No. 5 Denver Club

Harrow Sports is the official event sponsor and retailer for the 2010 US Lacrosse Women's Division Intercollegiate Associates National Championship. The Phoenix Regional Sports Commission is the host organization for the championship.

About Harrow Sports
Harrow Sports is a recognized leader in high performance composite technology for sports equipment. Since its inception, Harrow has led the industry in game changing composites in squash, lacrosse, ice hockey and field hockey. For more information please visit www.harrowsports.com.

About US Lacrosse
US Lacrosse, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, is the national governing body for men's and women's lacrosse. US Lacrosse has more than 300,000 members in 63 regional chapters around the country. Through responsive and effective leadership, US Lacrosse strives to provide programs and services to inspire participation while protecting the integrity of the game. To learn more about US Lacrosse, please visit www.uslacrosse.org.