April 20, 2000

EASTON, Pa. - The Lafayette women's lacrosse team (8-4, 4-0 Patriot League) will host Colgate (6-4, 3-0 Patriot League) on Saturday, April 22 in a game that will determine the Patriot League women's lacrosse champion.

The game is the final of five league games for Lafayette. The Red Raiders play Lehigh on April 25th in a makeup of an earlier season rainout. That game, however, wouldn't affect the league champion because even if Colgate were to lose to Lehigh after defeating Lafayette, the Red Raiders would still hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over Lafayette.

Both teams have come on strong after somewhat slow starts. Colgate won its first game, but then dropped the next three. The Red Raiders, however, enter this weekend's contest on a season-high four game win streak.

The Leopards, owners of a five-game win streak, have been dominating opponents as of late. Lafayette's closest contest in the current win streak came against Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., when the Leopards outlasted the Crusaders, 11-5. In its last contest, Lafayette, on the strength of six Heather McClelland (Springfield, Va./Kimball Union Academy) goals, took home bragging rights versus Lehigh with a convincing 18-4 win.

Saturday's game also features the top two scorers in the Patriot League. As of April 16 and the Patriot League's last weekly release, Lafayette's McClelland topped all league scorers with an average of 4.76 points per game. Right behind her is Colgate's Kate Manzella, with 4.44 points per game.

Regardless of the outcome of Saturday's game, the Leopards return to action Thursday, April 27 as it travels to Philadelphia to face Drexel at 4 p.m.