CAC Tournament Begins Monday
Three Cardinal squads host first-round contests

4/16/2007

Men's Tennis Pairings

WASHINGTON- After a jam-packed spring season the Capital Athletic Conference has announced the pairs for five of its seven championships.  The Catholic University Cardinals will be well-represented in the mix with a trio squads earning three seeds.  This week's games mark the final time that CUA will play in the CAC Tournament as the Cards are joining the newly-formed Landmark Conference in 2007-08.

Men's tennis was scheduled to open up tournament play at home with a match against #5 Goucher on Monday.  However, poor weather conditions have moved the match to Wednesday at CUA beginning at 4:00 p.m.  The Cards finished the regular season 10-7 and with a conference record of 4-3.  Two wins in the final week of the season over Gallaudet and St. Mary's helped seal up the fourth-seed in the tournament.  With a win on Wednesday the second round is schedule for Thursday at the home of the higher seed.

The women's tennis team will begin play on Tuesday with a match against #6 St. Mary's after earning the third seed.  The Cards will host the Seahawks at 3:30 p.m., that afternoon with the winner moving onto second round games on Friday at the home of the higher seed.  The Cardinals finished the season 11-6 with a 5-2 record in the CAC.  On Saturday CUA defeated St. Mary's 5-1 in its final contest of the regular season.

The baseball squad also opens CAC Tournament play on Tuesday with a 3:30 p.m., home game versus #4 Salisbury after earning the third seed overall.  The Cards went 1-1 in their final weekend of the regular season to wrap up the third seed with an overall record of 15-16 and a conference record of 6-4.  CUA split with Salisbury earlier in the season.  The CAC baseball tourney is double elimination so the Cards are guaranteed a game on Thursday at 3:30 p.m., at the home of the higher seed.

Men's lacrosse is the lone squad that will play Tuesday's first round game away from home.  The Cardinals finished the season 5-9 with a 2-6 conference record giving them the eighth seed in the tournament.  CUA received the toughest draw and will face #1 Salisbury in Maryland on Tuesday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.  The Sea Gulls are currently undefeated and ranked #1 in the nation, CUA fell to Salisbury in its first game of the 2006 season.

Softball rounds out the recently announced CAC pairings.  The Cardinals earned the third seed after a tie with Mary Washington as each squad boasted a 4-4 conference record.  Earlier in the season the Cards swept the Eagles giving them the tiebreaker and the higher seed.  The seeding is significant as Mary Washington must win a play-in game on Wednesday to make it to the tournament finals this weekend.  The Cardinals, on the other hand, have garaunteed themselves a spot in the final four and will face York at 10:00 a.m., in Salisbury, Md.  All tournament games will be played on Saturday and Sunday in Maryland.

The track and field squads will also attend the conference meet this week traveling to Salisbury, Md., for the CAC Championship.  Last weekend both squads had a solid warm up competing against three conference teams at the Messiah Invitational.  The women beat Goucher and York in the standings while the men defeated the Gophers.  Saturday's all-day event will feature some of the conference's top performers including Cardinal thrower Kim Stengle who is looking to repeat as a champion and hurdler Mike Doster who won the 400 hurdles at Messiah. 

Women's lacrosse will begin their conference tournament on Sunday as some of the CAC teams are finishing their season's this week.  The Cardinals are currently in third place with a 5-2 record and no games remaining in the CAC.  Pairings will be announced on Friday evening.

Check back to http://www.cuacardinals.com/ for all of the conference tournament information in the coming week!