Oct. 29, 2013
In the last year of the American Lacrosse Conference, Vanderbilt will face eight teams from the 2013 NCAA Tournament, including defending national champ North Carolina.
The Commodores unveiled their 2014 women’s lacrosse schedule, which features eight home games. They’ll play six games against opponents from the ALC, which is dissolving after the season. Vanderbilt’s future conference home has not been finalized.
“We feel like the schedule is still one of the most competitive schedules in the country,” said head coach Cathy Swezey, who begins her 17th season at Vanderbilt. “We’re always challenging ourselves. Hopefully we’ll have some greater success and get some things done in conference too. This is the last year the ALC will compete in conference. That is a big deal to do well.”
The 2014 campaign begins Feb. 7 on the road at Kennesaw State. The Commodores open their home slate on Feb. 9 against Massachusetts – the first of eight NCAA Tournament teams from 2013. On Feb. 22, they’ll face a stiff road test at North Carolina. The Tar Heels went 18-3 en route to the national championship last year.
Along with UMass and UNC, Denver, Jacksonville, Stanford and ALC foes Florida, Penn State and Northwestern made the 26-team NCAA Tournament field. Northwestern lost to UNC in the Final Four.
Vanderbilt opens ALC play at home on March 15 against Penn State. They’ll also host Johns Hopkins (March 29) and Ohio State (April 6) while traveling to Northwestern (April 10), Florida (April 13) and Michigan (April 19). The final ALC Tournament will be hosted by Northwestern on May 1-4 in Evanston, Ill.
The schedule also features several new opponents. Michigan, which is new to the ALC this year, will play Vanderbilt for the first time in the regular-season finale on April 19 in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Commodores will also play UMass and Liberty (Feb. 15 in Nashville) for the first time.
“We’re excited to play some new teams,” Swezey said. “UMass has been doing really well under their coach the last couple years. I’m anxious. It is a competitive schedule.”
