The women's lacrosse national semifinal and title games were "relocated to Gillette Stadium" after the NCAA announced in September that it was removing seven championship events from orth Carolina, and now the event is "sharing a venue" with the men's lacrosse championship for the first time, according to Callie Caplan of the Baltimore SUN. The event was originally supposed to be played in Cary, N.C. NCAA DI Associate Dir of Championships & Alliances Mary Berdo said, "It's something that's been talked about for a while, and this obviously really presented itself in a unique situation where we needed to change sites and the committee felt like it was time to try it." Berdo said that choosing Foxborough "hinged on previous success in shared cities." Berdo "admitted sharing a field this time has posed a few obstacles." The NCAA has to "combat overlap, crafting a schedule to not detract from teams' on-field time for practices, warm-ups and games." Organizers have also had to "coordinate off-site practices and banquets." Berdo is "most interested to observe how the joint model affects attendance given a possible spike in spectators with casual interest." The women's championship, for example, starts at 11:00am ET on Sunday before the Division II and III men's title matches "later in the day." Berdo: "We're hopeful we can capture the fans coming in who want to catch some of our championship game" (Baltimore SUN, 5/26).
THE PATRIOT WAY: PATRIOTS.com's Paul Perillo noted Boston College's women's lacrosse team will be playing in Gillette Stadium this weekend, and the group was "welcomed on the field and spent time chatting" with Patriots coach Bill Belichick on the sideline Thursday. They "watched the latter portion" of a Patriots practice, which "included some 11-on-11 red zone work, and then they were part of the team's post-practice breakdown." Belichick's daughter, Amanda is the head women's lacrosse coach at Holy Cross and "was with the BC contingent" (PATRIOTS.com, 5/25).
