May 5, 2002

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The University of North Carolina women's lacrosse team has been seeded No. 3 in the 2002 NCAA Tournament and will play UMBC in the opening round on Thursday, the NCAA announced on Sunday night. The Tar Heels, winners of last month's Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, received an at-large bid to the 16-team tournament field (the ACC does not receive one of the seven automatic bids). UNC was one of four seeded teams, joining No. 1 Georgetown, No. 2 Princeton and No. 4 Cornell.

The Tar Heels (15-2), ranked No. 3 in this week's Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) poll, will host UMBC (12-4) in a game to be played on Thursday afternoon at Henry Stadium at a time to be announced on Monday. Should UNC win that game, it would host the winner of the game between Virginia and Temple (to be played Thursday in Charlottesville, Va.) next Sunday afternoon in Chapel Hill.

This season marks Carolina's sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament bid in just the seventh year of the program's existence. The Tar Heels made back-to-back Final Four appearances in 1997 and '98 and reached the quarterfinals in 2000 and 2001.

Carolina has won 10 consecutive games entering NCAA Tournament play and have the opportunity to host first-round and quarterfinal games in Chapel Hill prior to the NCAA Final Four, which will be held on May 17 and 19 in Baltimore, Md.

"We're thrilled to be the third seed and host the first weekend," Carolina head coach Jenny Slingluff Levy said on Sunday evening. "We've completed a solid regular season and achieved one of our team goals when we won the ACC Tournament. But our ultimate goal is the national title and there is a lot of lacrosse left to be played. All 16 teams in the tournament enter with a clean slate, and it will be interesting to see how things shake out. I think it will be an extremely competitive tournament."

Carolina enters the NCAA Tournament with an overall record of 15-2 and a 2-1 mark in the ACC. The 15 wins equal the school record for most wins in a season, set in 1998 when the Tar Heels made their second straight Final Four appearance.

Should UNC win its first-round NCAA Tournament game on Thursday, it would be Carolina's 11th victory in a row, equalling the school record 11-game winning streak (set in 1997 on the way to the first Final Four in school history).