May 10, 2009
2009 NCAA Tournament Bracket (PDF Format) 
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern has earned the No. 12 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and will travel to Waco, Texas, to take on Texas State, host Baylor and Louisiana-Lafayette May 15-17 in a first round Regional.
Northwestern will face Texas State in its opening game at 5 p.m. CT Friday, May 15. Louisiana-Lafayette and Baylor will play the other first-round match-up at 7:30 p.m. Friday night. The winner of the Waco Regional will face winner of the Ann Arbor Regional featuring Michigan, Miami (OH), Cleveland State and Notre Dame for the right to go to the 2009 WCWS.
Northwestern compiled a 31-13 record in 2009, playing its fewest regular-season games since competing in 43 in 2002. The Wildcats suffered multiple weather-related schedule shifts, including a rare rainout in the desert of Tempe, Ariz., and playing only two games out of the slated five at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Georgia.
The Wildcats have not faced any of the teams in their Regional this year, although a contest versus the Rajin Cajuns scheduled for the NFCA Leadoff Classic was rained out. Northwestern went 12-10 overall on the year against the other 63 teams in the field, including a 7-5 mark versus the other 15 seeded teams.
Six other contests scheduled against teams in the field were rained out and 12 of NU's 24 non-conference games were versus the 2009 NCAA field. Overall, 22 of Northwestern's 44 games (50 percent) in 2009 were versus NCAA qualifiers.
Northwestern is one of the NCAA Tournament's top-16 seeds for the fifth-straight year, earning a seed in every season since the event went to its current 16 Regional format in 2005. NU was No. 9 in 2005, No. 4 in 2006, No. 2 in 2007 and No. 11 last year.
After successfully hosting its Regional in each of the last three years, Northwestern will hit the road following an NCAA decision to require lights at all 2009 Tournament sites. The Wildcats last played their Regional away from home in 2005 when they won at Notre Dame.
Northwestern has a 25-15 record in the NCAA Tournament in six previous appearances under eighth-year head coach Kate Drohan. The Wildcats are making their 12th overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament field and their seventh in a row in the Drohan era.