Princeton University Set to Host 2010 Women's ECAC Championship

2010 ECAC Championship Schedule

PRINCETON, N.J. -- The No. 17-ranked Tigers of Princeton University will serve as host this weekend for the 2010 Women's Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship at DeNunzio Pool. The Tigers will join the University of Maryland, Bucknell University, No. 20 ranked Brown University and Harvard University of the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA), along with Iona College, Marist College, and Wagner College of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) in squaring off for the 11th ECAC crown on Saturday-Sunday, February 27-28.

Iona, Marist and Wagner will seek to become the first MAAC schools to win an ECAC Championship as six-time titleist Princeton (2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007), Hartwick College (2004), Bucknell (2008) and Brown (2009) of the CWPA have swept the previous ECAC title games.

In the history of the championship, only one MAAC school has reached the title tilt as Marist advanced to the 2008 and 2009 championship games falling to Bucknell (8-7 at Bucknell) and Brown (10-8 OT at Marist).

Further, it marks the fourth time Princeton has hosted the championship as the Garden State was previously the site of the 2000, 2001 and 2003 tournaments.  In all three championships, Princeton exited DeNunzio with the championship plaque.  Overall, the host team has reached the title game five times in the previous 10 women's ECAC Championships, as Brown advanced and fell in the 2004 title game, while Bucknell captured the 2008 crown.

On Saturday, February 27, first round match-ups feature top seed Maryland taking on No. 8 seed Bucknell at 9:00 a.m.; No. 4 seed Princeton vs. No. 5 seed Iona at 10:30 a.m.; No. 2 seed Marist vs. No. 7 seed Harvard at noon; and No. 3 seed Brown vs. No. 6 seed Wagner at 1:30 p.m.

Following the first round action, the victors and losers of the earlier action will meet in the semifinals as the Loser of Game 2 meets the Loser of Game 1 at 4:00 p.m. and the Loser of Game 4 meets the Loser of Game 3 at 5:30 p.m. to decide which teams advance to the fifth and seventh place games.

The tournament semifinals begin at 7:00 p.m. when the Winner of Game 1 clashes with the Winner of Game 2 before the Winner of Game 3 meets the Winner of Game 4 at 8:30 p.m.

Action concludes on Sunday, February 28 with the seventh place game at 10:00 a.m., the fifth place game at 11:30 a.m., the third place game at 1:00 p.m. and the title game at 2:30 p.m.

The field for the tournament was seeded based on the final finish order from last year's CWPA Southern, Northern and Western Championship along with the MAAC Championship.

However, the seeds do not reflect the team's chances in the tournament field as No. 2 seed Marist holds a 5-4 victory over No. 1 seed Maryland, No. 4 seed Princeton knocked off No. 3 seed Brown 13-11 and both No. 7 seed Harvard (10-8 W) and No. 8 seed Bucknell (8-7 W) downed No. 6 seed Wagner.