Dec. 9, 1999

Games against three of the 12 NCAA tournament teams and five home games highlight the 15-game, Notre Dame women's lacrosse schedule for the 2000 schedule, head coach Tracy Coyne announced Thursday. The Irish begin their fourth season of varsity women's lacrosse at Denver on Sunday, March 5. Notre Dame will play Ohio University in its home opener on Saturday, March 11.

"This is, by far, our toughest schedule since we started the program," said Coyne, who begins her fourth year as head coach of the program she started in 1996. "We have more ranked opponents and the overall caliber of the schedule has improved significantly. We have positioned ourselves with this schedule to receive recognition on the national level."

Notre Dame will play road games at '99 NCAA teams Georgetown, Rutgers and Duke, which advanced to the semifinals. The Irish play 11 teams from the 1999 schedule and went 5-6 against those teams. Notre Dame will play four other opponents -- Ohio University, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown and Rutgers -- for the first time ever in its brief history. Coyne, who was named head coach of the Canadian women's lacrosse national this fall, is a 1983 graduate of Ohio University.