2021 NCAA BRACKET
INDIANAPOLIS – BIG EAST Women’s Lacrosse Champion Denver was joined in the NCAA Championship field by conference runner-up UConn as the selections for the 29-team tournament were announced on Sunday evening on ESPNU. The Pioneers are making their third straight trip the national tournament and fifth overall, while the Huskies punched their NCAA ticket for the second time and first since 2013.
Denver women's lacrosse team will head to Evanston, Ill., to take on Stanford in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Women's Lacrosse Tournament on Friday at 6 p.m. ET. Denver is coming off its 15th-straight win and first BIG EAST Conference Tournament title, a 13-7 victory over UConn on Saturday afternoon in Washington D.C. Stanford holds an 18-12 edge in the series history, but the Pioneers have won the last four meetings, including a four-goal win at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium last February.
The UConn Huskies will match-up against the University of Virginia of the ACC in the first round on Friday, May 14. The Huskies will take on the Cavaliers in South Bend, Ind. in a 5 pm match-up. The winner will take on the winner of the first game of the day between host and the No. 5 seed in the field Notre Dame and Robert Morris. This will be the first-ever meeting between UConn and Virginia, who enter the tournament at 8-8 overall after losing in the ACC Quarterfinals to Boston College, 16-12. UVA was 3-7 in the ACC this season. Should the Huskies advance, they have never faced Robert Morris and are 3-12 all-time against Notre Dame with the last meeting coming in 2013.
The BIG EAST earned multiple bids in the NCAA Championship for the third straight year 14
th time since 2001. In 2019, Georgetown and Denver both advanced out of the First Round, with the Pioneers marching on to a program-best quarterfinal appearance.
The tournament begins with first-round games May 14. Eight sites will host first- and second-round competition Friday, May 14, and Sunday, May 16, and four quarterfinal games will be played Saturday, May 22 or Sunday, May 23. These preliminary-round games will be played on the campuses of competing institutions.
The winners of the four quarterfinal games will advance to the national semifinals hosted by Towson University at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson, Maryland. The semifinal games will be shown live on ESPNU at Noon and 2 p.m. Eastern time, Friday, May 28. The championship game will air live on ESPNU Sunday, May 30 at Noon.