ERIC M. JUKELEVICS/Arizona Daily Wildcat A Laxcat player prepares to take a shot on goal earlier this season at Laxcat Field. The Laxcats play Stanford tomorrow in the WCLL Final Four. The conference winner will receive an automatic bid to the national championships.

The Laxcats travel to San Diego this weekend to compete in the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League Final Four.

UA (14-2, 6-0) will play Stanford tomorrow at 11 a.m. at Patrick Henry High School in San Diego. The winner of this game will the play the winner of the Sonoma State/University of California Santa Barbara game Sunday at 2 p.m. for the WCLL crown.

The winner of the WCLL tournament earns an automatic bid into the USLIA national tournament. However, with the Laxcatsâ successful regular season and several non-conference wins over highly ranked opponents, it is likely that even if UA doesnât win the WCLL, it will still earn an at-large bid to the USLIA tournament.

Head coach Adam Hopkins said the team is really looking forward to competing in this yearâs WCLL Final Four and said he believes the Laxcats have a great shot at winning the tournament.

ãWe have the talent to (win it all),ä Hopkins said.

This will be the first meeting of the year between the Cardinal and Laxcats. Both teams are coming off big first-round playoff wins at home last weekend.

Stanford (8-5, 4-2) is a strong defensive team and likes to play a slow, controlled offensive game. The Cardinal are anchored on defense by senior Paul Sargen, who was United States Lacrosse Intercollegiate Association tournament Defensive MVP last season.

ãOn paper, we match up well,ä Hopkins said.

UA comes into the game with one of the leagueâs top attack units, led by senior Jay Spatafora, sophomore Jeems Lockridge and juniors Charlie Mink and Josh Morrison.

Spatafora is coming off a nine-point performance last weekend in which he reached the century mark for points on the year.

Senior defenseman Brent Richey said that because both Stanfordâs defense and UAâs offense are so evenly matched, it will take the other players to make the difference in the game.

A large part of the game will rely on the face-offs.

ãWe always have to win that battle,ä Richey said.

The Laxcats dominated the face-off battle last week against Chapman and won, 16-8. However, in their 20-9 loss to Sonoma State, they were beaten in 25 out of the 31 face-offs.

Freshmen Dante Conti, Tim McComb and Mark Sumner ÷ the Laxcat face-off unit ÷ will have a big say in the outcome of this game.

ãThose freshmen can sway the battle in the middle,ä Richey said. ãIt is crucial that they play like upperclassmen.ä

Hopkins said it will take a lot of confidence and respect for the other teams to come out of San Diego victorious.

ãWe just want to play good lacrosse,ä Hopkins said.