It was announced earlier tonight that the University of Redlands women's lacrosse team earned one of nine Pool-C berths to the 2011 NCAA Division III Championships and faces Pool-B selection Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (15-2) in Wednesday's first-round game in Claremont.

With an overall record of 13-4, the Bulldogs advance to the 31-team tournament for the first time in the program's 13-year history.

Details including game time and cost of admission will be released later this week.

Redlands' season began with a 9-0 run before falling two goals short of defeating CMS in their first meeting. The Bulldogs went 4-3 in their subsequent games to finish out the regular season.

The 18th-ranked Athenas won the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championship for the second time in a row after posting back-to-back 10-0 conference records. Their only losses of the year came at the hands of Stevens Institute of Technology (NJ) and Springfield College (MA).

CMS makes its fifth NCAA appearances after last year's showing in the Round of 16.

In addition to 17 automatic qualifiers, the tournament includes five Pool-B teams and nine Pool-C programs. Independent institutions and those that are members of non-AQ conferences make up the Pool B list, while non-champions from conferences with an AQ comprise the Pool-C options.

Redlands is one of three squads to make its first showing at the NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Tournament, joining Adrian College (MI) and Gwynnedd-Mercy College (PA) in this feat.

For a complete list of the participants as well as first-round match-ups, please log onto www.ncaa.com.