May 15, 2005

NCAA Tournament Bracket in PDF Format
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- For the third consecutive year and the eighth time in program history, Northwestern has received a bid to the NCAA Tournament -- this time as the ninth-overall seed. The Wildcats will travel to South Bend, Ind., and take on Albany (N.Y.) in their first game at 2:30 p.m. Friday, May 20.

Notre Dame and Louisville round out NU's four-team Regional field. They will face off in Friday's first game slated to begin at noon.

The winner of the double-elimination Regional advances to a Super Regional, which is a two-team, best-two-out-of-three series for the right to go to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City, Okla.

This year's format is a change from the past format of eight Regionals comprised of eight teams each. This season, there are 16 Regional sites with four teams each.

The first round takes place May 20-22, with the Super Regional being played May 27-28. The WCWS will be played June 1-5.

This is NU's third trip to the NCAA Tournament under fourth-year head coach Kate Drohan. In 2003, the Wildcats went 1-2 at the Austin Regional before posting a 2-2 record at the Tucson Regional last season.

Northwestern has qualified for the NCAA Tournament in four of the last six seasons. NU has made the WCWS three times, finishing a program- and Big Ten Conference-best third in 1984.

The Wildcats' record is currently 38-15, NU's best victory total since 1995, when they also won 38 games. The school record for victories is 43, set in 1987.

Northwestern finished second in the Big Ten this year with a record of 15-3, falling just short of No. 1 Michigan's 15-2 record. NU's conference finish is its best since 1998.

A complete NCAA Tournament bracket is available by clicking the .pdf link at the top of this page.