By Kris Wright  / Daily Progress staff writer
June 10, 2005

Sixteen of the best players in the world. The sport of women’s lacrosse’s premier team. Right in your backyard.

Starting today, the U.S. Women’s World Cup Team will be in Charlottesville for a week-long training camp, which includes a free admission exhibition game on Saturday. The nation’s top 16 players and three alternates will be in town for the preparation period.
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On Saturday, the team will play an intrasquad exhibition at 7:30 p.m. on STAB’s main field. [\"STAB\" is St. Anne's-Belfield School. I used to work at the 7-Eleven across the street.] The contest is open to the public with free admission. T-shirts will be available for [sale], posters will be handed out and members of the World Cup squad will be available to sign autographs.

“We will probably be selling raffle tickets to promote fundraising for U.S. Lacrosse. We’ll have World Cup posters to hand out. The team t-shirt that we’ve been selling as a fundraiser will be available and the players will be available to sign t-shirts,” Dow said.

The World Cup Tournament is being held at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., from Thursday, June 23 through Saturday, July 2. The event features a record 10 nations this season. For more information or tickets, visit US Lacrosse.org Worldcup.

The U.S. is the four-time defending World Cup Champion. Still, the United States will try to become the first team to capture the cup in its own country - the last time the World Cup, which occurs every four years, was held in the U.S. was 1986.

Cyd at Outsports
I wonder how the possibly chose Charlottesville . . .

Northwestern 13, Virginia 10

By Jon Gallo
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 23, 2005; Page D05

The Northwestern women's lacrosse players tossed their sticks into the air as soon as the final whistle signaled a moment that changed the sport's landscape: A school that did not have a varsity team five years ago became the first from outside the Eastern time zone to win an NCAA title.
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Northwestern concluded its improbable tale before a crowd of 4,634, but wrote its first chapter in 2000. That's when Northwestern hired Kelly Amonte Hiller, a former standout at the University of Maryland, and reinstated the sport to varsity status in 2002 after eliminating the program in 1992 for budget reasons after 10 seasons.

By Christian Swezey
Special to The Washington Post
Monday, May 23, 2005; Page D05

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The ACC has three teams in the [men's] final four -- Virginia is the other. It is the first time a conference has had three teams make the semifinals.
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