WNIT to Highlight Big Sports Weekend

The women’s basketball team will play Dartmouth right here on campus tonight (Friday) in the prestigious Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) – and students can attend for free!

And that’s just one of many high-profile competitions involving Hartford teams that will take place this weekend.

• The women’s soccer team, the 2006 America East Champions, will take on Rutgers tonight (Friday) at 7:30 p.m. In Piscataway, N.J., in the first round of the NCAA tournament.



• The men’s basketball team will kick off its season at 12 p.m. Saturday in Washington, D.C., with a game against Georgetown University – the No. 8 team in the country.



• The men’s rugby team will face Hamilton College in the Northeast Rugby Union Division III Collegiate Championship on Saturday at 9 a.m. in Batavia, N.Y., marking the first time the team has competed in that tournament. Men’s rugby is a club sport, which means that it is not part of the University’s Division I intercollegiate athletics program.

The women’s basketball team’s game against Dartmouth will take place at 7 p.m. tonight at the Chase Arena in the Reich Family Pavilion (Sports Center). The game marks the first time that the Hawks have been invited to play in the preseason WNIT, and the first time that the University has hosted a WNIT game.

University of Hartford students can attend the game for free, courtesy of the President’s Office and the Office of Student Affairs. Students can pick up their free tickets by showing their University of Hartford ID at the Athletics Box Office in the Sports Center anytime after 10 a.m. Friday.

Tickets for non-students are $12 for adult bleacher seating and $16 for adult chairback seating. Tickets for children (ages 14 and under) are $5 for bleacher seating and $13 for chairback seating. For tickets, stop by the Athletics Box Office in the Sports Center, or call 860.768.HAWK (4295).

Hartford is one of only 16 teams that have been invited to play in the prestigious tournament. The winner of the match-up between Hartford and Dartmouth will advance to play either Purdue or Belmont in the second round of the tournament.

See the tournament bracket (pdf).

All tournament games in which Hartford plays will be broadcast live on WWUH radio (91.3 FM). You can listen to the broadcasts online at www.wwuh.org.