HANOVER, N.H. - Head coach Bill Wilson and the Dartmouth men's lacrosse team has released its 15-game regular-season slate, which includes five games against teams that made appearances in the last year's NCAA Tournaments.

"There is plenty of excitement surrounding the 2009 schedule," said Wilson. "With our team working hard in the off season, a strong schedule definitely adds incentive to work even harder during the winter months. While the challenging Ivy League line-up remains front and center in the hearts of our men, they also see the opportunity in playing a strong out of league schedule given the current NCAA selection criteria."

Highlighting the schedule for the Big Green is two Final Four teams from a year ago in Duke and Virginia. Dartmouth will once again make an appearance on Long Island as the Big Green takes on the Blue Devils from Stony Brook University on March 28 at 12 p.m. Later on in the season, Dartmouth will travel to Charlottesville for a matchup with the other semifinalist from a year ago in the Cavaliers. The two teams will meet on April 18 at 1:00 p.m.

The season kicks off with two New England teams in the line up. The Big Green opens the season on Feb. 21 at Hartford, followed by the home opener at Scully-Fahey Field against new Division I member Bryant at 3:00 p.m. The month of February comes to an end for Dartmouth will visit to one of the four NCAA qualifiers from last season in Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish and the Big Green have met the past five seasons, including last year when the two teams faced off in Atlanta.

A busy month of March begins with a trip to the neighbors to the north in Vermont, then the Big Green will be home for matchups with Lehigh and the Ivy League opener against Brown. The month wraps up with a trip to another Patriot League rival in Holy Cross and then the Long Island matchup with Duke.

The tough stretch of April, which includes a three-game road slate, starts with an Ivy League matchup at Penn, followed by back-to-back home games versus Providence and Cornell. The long three-game road trip kicks off with the Big Green traveling to Yale, Virginia and Princeton. The regular season comes to an end on May 2 as Dartmouth hosts Harvard from Scully-Fahey Field.

Duke, Virginia, Notre Dame, Cornell and Bryant were the four teams that competed in the NCAA tournament a year ago. The Bulldogs competed in the Division II NCAA Tournament

2008 Dartmouth Men's Lacrosse Schedule

Feb. 21    at Hartford              1:00 p.m.
Feb. 24    BRYANT                   3:00 p.m.
Feb. 28    at Notre Dame            1:00 p.m.
 
Mar. 3     at Vermont               3:00 p.m.
Mar. 7     LEHIGH                   3:00 p.m.
Mar. 21    BROWN*                   1:00 p.m.
Mar. 24    at Holy Cross            6:30 p.m.
Mar. 28    Duke (Stony Brook, NY)  12:00 p.m.
 
Apr. 3     at Penn*                 4:00 p.m.
Apr. 7     PROVIDENCE               4:00 p.m.
Apr. 11    CORNELL*                 1:00 p.m.
Apr. 15    at Yale*                 7:00 p.m.
Apr. 18    at Virginia              1:00 p.m.
Apr. 25    at Princeton*           12:00 p.m.
 
May 2      HARVARD*                 1:00 p.m.

2008-11-20