Nov. 11, 2003
NORFOLK, VA -- The Old Dominion field hockey team will travel to Durham, North Carolina and host site Duke University for the first and second rounds of the 2003 NCAA Field Hockey Tournament. The Lady Monarchs will meet Richmond in the first round, while second seeded and host Duke takes on American in the other first round match-up. The winners will meet in the second round for a chance to advance to the Field Hockey Final Four hosted by the University of Massachusetts.
The Lady Monarchs (13-9 overall, 6-1), ranked 8th in the STX/NFHCA Poll, earned the Colonial Athletic Association's (CAA) automatic bid to the 16-team national tournament. Old Dominion defeated Virginia Commonwealth, 7-2, and Delaware, 5-0, in the CAA Tournament to advance to their 23rd straight NCAA appearance.
Richmond (18-4), received an at large bid to the tournament. Winner of the Atlantic-10 Conference, the Spiders fell to California, 2-1, in the NCAA Play-In Game. Richmond meets Old Dominion for the second consecutive year in the NCAA Tournament. Last season, Old Dominion defeated the Spiders, 5-1, in the opening round en-route to their final four appearance in 2002.
Duke, who the Lady Monarchs lost to by one goal, 3-2, in the final minutes of their September 21st match-up, is 17-3 overall and ranked second in the country.
American earned an automatic berth into this year's tournament by way of the one of the two play-in games. The Patriot League Champions, who are 17-3 overall and ranked 19th, defeated Northeast Conference (NEC) winner, Quinnipiac, earlier on Monday by a score of 4-1.
Click here to view the entire 2003 NCAA Field Hockey bracket.