Penn men and women, 'Nova men get NCAA lacrosse bids

When the NCAA announced the fields of lacrosse teams for its national championship tournaments on Sunday night, Penn's men and women earned a call, as did the Villanova men.

All three teams are unseeded and made the NCAAs as at-large entries.

The Penn women (11-5) will visit No. 5-seed Duke (13-4) on Sunday for a first-round game. When the Blue Devils visited the Quakers on April 29, Penn came away with a 13-10 decision.

The Quakers men (8-6), who have more losses than any team in their division, will meet host and No. 4 seed Notre Dame (10-2) on Sunday.

Villanova's men (11-4) will travel to No. 6 Denver (13-2) for a Saturday game.

This year marks the seventh appearance overall in the NCAAs by the Quakers women, who earned the Ivy League's automatic bid in each of the last four seasons.

In addition to Duke, Penn also has a win over North Carolina, with losses to Notre Dame and Northwestern.

"I think I felt great because our schedule was one of the hardest in the country," Penn women's coach Karin Brower Corbett said of her team's at-large bid. "We've had some games where we played well, and some games where played not so well. If we play to our ability, we have a chance."

Penn's men's coach Mike Murphy, and Villanova coach Michael Corrado also expressed appreciation for being recognized as programs good enough to earn at-large bids.

"It was exciting and the whole team was excited," Murphy said. "I heard a few things that sounded good for us today. More than anything else, it's been our work ethic."

"I thought we were in good shape, but it was nerve-racking," said Corrado. "We've played some good competition. I thought we had a good veteran team that could have a good year, and it says a lot to be picked at-large."

Unseeded Delaware (12-5) will visit No. 5 Duke on Sunday.