News|Schedule / Results|Roster|Officers &Coaches|

UCSB Gets WCLA National Championship Tournament Invite

Apr. 19, 2011

Santa Barbara, CA - The Gauchos are going dancing! U.S. Lacrosse invited UCSB to their Women's Collegiate Lacrosse Association National Championship Tournament. The WCLA, formerly called the WDIA, is hosting the event in Scottsdale, Arizona May 4th - 7th. It is the Big Dance of  the college-club women's lacrosse scene. There are 254 teams in the WCLA. Sixteen get to play in the WCLA Division One National Championship and 8 teams play for the Division Two National Championship.

The Gauchos earned an at-large spot and were given the 7th seed. UCSB will face 10th seeded University of Texas, Austin in a first round match-up. The Longhorns are 16-5 overall and winners of the Texas Women's Lacrosse League. The Horns breezed through the TWLL Tournament with a 16-6 win over host Baylor in the semifinals and a 19-8 win over SMU in the final. UCSB and Texas have met twice during the careers of current Gauchos. UCSB prevailed 15-6 on April 4, 2009 at the Western States Tournament in Palo Alto, CA and 11-5 on February 13, 2010 at the Santa Barbara Shootout.

In an 'only has happened once before' scenario the Western Women's Lacrosse League (WWLL) put five teams into the tournament. Expected to go were WWLL automatic qualifier Santa Clara and top ranked (but upset by Santa Clara in the WWLL Tournament) UC Davis. UCSB finished third in the WWLL Tournament beating Cal Poly SLO 15-11 in the 3rd place game. The Mustangs were also selected for an at-large spot with the 12th seed and UCLA grabbed a berth as well as the 9th seed, despite being upset by Cal Poly SLO in the WWLL quarterfinals.

"This is fantastic and everyone on the team is super excited about this opportunity," said UCSB Head Coach Paul Ramsey after he heard the news.

"Players and teams strive all year to be part of this event and we are one of the select few teams that get to go. It's a big reason for why players are on this team and work so hard in this program."

It is one of the lower seeds for UCSB among recent years but based on the history of the tournament it matters little. The #1 seed has only won it once. The 2010 champion Colorado State were seeded 11th and the 2009 champion Virginia Tech were seeded 6th. 

"It comes down to who gets hot and plays well at this event," added Ramsey.

Asked about playing Texas and then, hopefully, the winner of the Florida vs. Minnesota match-up and a likely  second shot at the Gators Ramsey paused and said, "I'll get back to you on that."

UCSB looks mostly okay for the Texas game going off common opponents. The Gauchos bettered BYU 12-10 but the Cougars beat the Longhorns 10-7.  Texas beat San Diego State 10-7 and UCSB beat the Aztecs 23-11. The Longhorns beat UCLA 10-9 while UCSB beat the Bruins 21-10. On the flip side of those results are a 12-6 loss by Texas at the hands of Colorado who beat UCSB 14-7 and Florida beating Texas 12-9 while the Gators beat the Gauchos 11-7.

"If we play well enough we can beat anyone in this thing," finally concluded Ramsey.  "We know comparing scores is only good for making heads spin and we just really want to turn heads with how well we play there."

Division One First Round Games (Wednesday, May 4)
No. 1 Colorado vs. No. 16 Midland
No. 2 Florida Club vs. No. 15 Minnesota
No. 3 UC Davis Club vs. No. 14 Washington
No. 4 Santa Clara vs. No. 13 Boston College Club
No. 5 Lindenwood vs. No. 12 Cal Poly SLO
No. 6 Colorado State vs. No. 11 Pittsburgh
No. 7 UC Santa Barbara vs. No. 10 Texas
No. 8 Michigan vs. No. 9 UCLA

Division Two First Round Games (Thursday, May 5)
No. 1 Westminster vs. No. 8 Oakland
No. 2 Chapman vs. No. 7 St. Benedict
No. 3 Southern Methodist vs. No. 6 Utah
No. 4 Towson Club vs. No. 5 Minnesota-Duluth

Click for U.S. Lacrosse Press Release