The Big East Champion UConn field hockey team (18-3) will take on Rutgers (13-5) to open 2018 NCAA Division I Field Hockey Tournament play in the first round on Friday at 2:30 p.m. in College Park, Maryland.

The game will be hosted by No. 2 seed Maryland, which will take on Albany in the first round. The winners of the first round games will face off on Sunday, at a time to be determined.

UConn won its seventh straight Big East Tournament championship Sunday with a 5-3 win over second-seeded Liberty, earning the Huskies an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Head coach Nancy Stevens posted her 500th win as the UConn leader in the game.

The tightly contested championship match went back and forth between the top two teams in the Big East, and the Flames benefited from a great show of support from their home crowd.

For their efforts in the tournament, UConn’s Amelia Iacobucci, Svea Boker, Amanda Collins, Cecile Pieper, and Cheyenne Sprecher received All-Big East Tournament honors. Pieper was named the Big East Tournament Most Outstanding Player.

The Huskies have qualified for 16 straight NCAA Tournaments, and UConn has won three NCAA Championships in the past five years. Connecticut is making its 22nd NCAA Tournament appearance under Stevens.

The Final Four will be hosted in Louisville, Kentucky, on Nov. 16 and 18.