Five Big Ten Women's Lacrosse Teams Selected for NCAA Tournament
View 2024 NCAA Women's Lacrosse Tournament Bracket
ROSEMONT, Ill. – Five Big Ten teams were selected to participate in the 2024 NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Tournament. Johns Hopkins, Maryland, Michigan, Northwestern, and Penn State heard their names called, as the tournament selections were announced on Sunday night.
This is the third consecutive year the Big Ten has received five bids to the NCAA Tournament. Since the Big Ten began sponsoring women’s lacrosse in 2015, the league has received at least three tournament bids every season.
First-round games will be played Friday (May 10) with second-round matchups taking place next Sunday (May 12). The quarterfinals are then slated for Thursday, May 16. Those first three rounds will all take place at campus sites around the country.
The quarterfinal winners will advance to the NCAA national semifinals and championship, which will take place May 24 & 26 at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary N.C.
Games in the first two rounds will be broadcast on ESPN+, with quarterfinal and semifinal rounds broadcast on ESPNU. The National Championship game will be broadcast live on ESPN at 12 noon ET.
Northwestern (15-2, 5-1 Big Ten) was selected as the tournament’s number one overall seed and is one of three teams to earn a first-round bye. In Sunday’s second round, the Wildcats will face the winner of a first-round matchup between BIG EAST champion Denver and Pac-12 champion Stanford.
The tournament’s number four seed Maryland (12-5, 4-2) will make its 39th NCAA Tournament appearance when it plays host to MAC champion Robert Morris on Friday at 12 noon ET.
Penn State (11-7, 4-2) will open its 26th NCAA Tournament in College Park, as the Nittany Lions will meet James Madison at 3 p.m.
Should both Maryland and Penn State win their first-round games, the pair will meet in Sunday’s second round, as the Terrapins will look to avenge their 12-11 loss at Penn State on April 13.
Johns Hopkins (11-7, 2-4) will make its sixth consecutive tournament appearance and 12th overall when the Blue Jays face MAAC runner-up Fairfield at 3 p.m. ET at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. The winner will meet either the host Bulldogs or Binghamton, who is making its first NCAA Tournament appearance.
Michigan (14-3, 4-2) will make its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance on Friday, when it faces Big South champion Mercer at 4 p.m. at Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. The winner of the first-round game will face No. 7 overall seed Notre Dame or ASUN champion Coastal Carolina.