Give credit where credit is due. The NCAA got the checkbook out and gave us our best bracket we’ve ever seen at the Division III Level for Women’s Hockey. Gone it seems are the days of Wisconsin-River Falls facing Gustavus in the quarterfinals or the west playing down to one team due to budgets and geography. Round one will feature three flights, the quarterfinal has the potential to see another three, then we’ll have more flights once the Frozen Four site is determined (highest remaining seed going into the Frozen Four that meets hosting requirements).
Let’s meet the teams who qualified for this year’s tournament and see what we’ve got coming our way this weekend!
#1 Wisconsin-River Falls Falcons (27-1-0)
WIAC – At-Large
Well, here we are again, Wisconsin-River Falls has remained #1 for essentially the past three seasons as they’ve won back-to-back national championships and have had a player win the Laura Hurd award three of the last four years, including back-to-back winners in 2024 (Maddie McCollins) & 2025 (Bailey Olson).
The Falcons are coming off their sixth straight WIAC conference championship, defeating their rival Wisconsin-Eau Claire 4-0 and earning an at-large bid into the dance due to the lack of teams in the WIAC.
River Falls is the clear favorite in the NCAA tournament once again; they’re one win away from hosting the Frozen Four for the third straight year as they’ll face the winner of Plattsburgh @ Williams in the first round.
This season, the Falcons had an array of notable wins, including three wins over UW-Eau Claire, Augsburg, Plattsburgh, Endicott, St. Norbert, Gustavus 2x, St. Olaf & Saint Mary’s… Their only blemish coming to Eau Claire in their first meeting of the season, losing 3-0.
Their standout performer this season on the stat sheet has been Megan Goodreau who recently broke another record to add to her list of accolades this season. Goodreau most recently set the WIAC single season record for goals with 36 as she completed her feat against Eau Claire in the championship. You can read about Goodreau’s other accolades here.
Statistically, River Falls was incredibly dominant, outscoring opponents 150-29…. The Falcons also had a dominant powerplay, converting 46% and killing penalties at a 93% rate.
River Falls gets to rest for a week and watch to see who they welcome in to Hunt Arena, a place very familiar with NCAA tournament games as they look to three-peat for the first time since Plattsburgh when the Cardinals won four in a row from 2014-2017.
#2 Norwich University Cadets (25-2-0)
Little East – At-Large
Norwich was a team that Scott & I discussed in our preseason podcast and conference preview articles that with the new league (Little East), they wouldn’t be able to afford any real slip ups this season if they wanted to earn an NCAA bid with the lack of auto bid coming from the LEC. This season, Norwich really thrived under first year Head Coach Justin Simpson, going 25-2-0 with their only losses coming on the road to Plattsburgh & Williams (in overtime) and winning the rest of their games.
The Cadets had their signature win of the season in late January when they went to Amherst and defeated the Mammoths 2-0 in a game that really set them up for success NPI-wise as Amherst was the heaviest-weighted-team on their schedule NPI-wise, adding to the face it was a road win.
Statistically, Norwich was incredible in conference play (and overall), but they outscored LEC opponents an incredible 103-7 (yes, you read that right, they gave up a whole seven goals in 18 conference games) and outscored all opponents 129-21.
Looking ahead, similar to River Falls, the Cadets will be watching to see who visits them in Kreitzberg whether it be Endicott from Massachusetts or Hamline from Minnesota. Looking at the matchups, Endicott has been the hotter team as of late, but played a weaker schedule to end the season compared to Hamline coming from the MIAC who established themselves as the top league in Division III this season. Hamline came out east earlier this season and defeated both Endicott & UMass-Boston 5-1, so that’s the one similar matchup we can look to from earlier this season.
Norwich is off to a great start in the HC Justin Simpson era, winning the most games in program history since the 2017-18 season (27) and coming off their inaugural Little East Conference Championship win, defeating UMass-Boston 3-1.
#3 Nazareth University Golden Flyers (25-1-1)
UCHC – At-Large
Nazareth made it all the way until this past weekend without losing a game, but fell to Elmira in the UCHC title game after falling down 3-0 after the 1st period. Earlier this season, Nazareth swept Elmira in two very close games, including a late winner to avoid overtime.
The Golden Flyers have consistently always won a lot of games and have won the previous four UCHC tournaments prior to Elmira rejoining the league this season (left for NEHC). The narrative for Nazareth this season has rested with their SOS being a very low 63rd of 79th as they’ve historically handled the teams they ‘should’ beat, but have struggled to win non-UCHC playoff games in the past few seasons, winning their first ever NCAA game last season over Endicott 4-2 after failing to advance past the first round of the NCAA tournament in their first three attempts.
This season, the Golden Flyers signature wins would be considered their pair of wins over Elmira in the regular season and also the trio of bottom-mid level NESCAC opponents (based on standings) including Trinity, Wesleyan, & Hamilton. Their only blemish prior to the playoffs was a shocking tie against Buffalo State in mid-January.
Leading them this season has been sophomore Amy Laskowski, scoring 25 goals & dishing out 24 assists for a total of 49 points. Goaltender Mia Gonsalves sits with a record of 23-1-1, a save-percentage of .923, & GAA of 1.30.
Looking ahead, again, similar to UW-River Falls & Norwich, the Golden Flyers will be awaiting their opponent in either Adrian or Wilkes. If I’m Nazareth, I’m likely saying a few Hail Mary’s that Wilkes pulls this one off because Adrian will certainly present the Golden Flyers with an offense capable of doing things they haven’t seen this season. Wilkes is a solid team of course, but Adrian will present an entirely different set of problems if you’re Nazareth.
We’ll see if Nazareth can make the next jump this season and get past the quarterfinal round, they’ll be playing in their second-ever NCAA quarterfinal game next Saturday.
#4 Amherst College Mammoths (19-2-6)
NESCAC – Auto
Amherst is the first repeat winner of the NESCAC since Middlebury won three in a row from 2016-2018. The Mammoths defeated Williams in the semifinals, but their game was delayed as the earlier game between Middlebury & Colby needed three overtimes to settle the deal, but the Mules came out on top.
For Amherst, their championship game was potentially concerning if you’re a Mammoth fan. Of course, the rest time was shortened for Amherst with the late start, but Colby was coming off three overtimes and arguably outplayed Amherst and outshot them 39-32, falling to another Natalie Stott shutout which isn’t an uncommon theme for her career. However, you would’ve thought the offensive from Amherst could’ve potentially performed to a slightly higher level when the team in front of them had an extra hour of ice time the previous day. A lot of credit should be given to Colby where it’s due as it’ll be overlooked most likely for the time being since they’ve been eliminated.
This season, Amherst’s signature non-conference victory came in the Mustang Cup (*SUNY Morrisville) against Adrian College where they trailed 1-0 until under five minutes in the 3rd period, scoring with 4:49 left to tie it, then scoring the winner with just under three minutes left before sealing it with an empty net goal in the final minute.
The key for Amherst will be what it’s been the past three seasons plus this one, rely on Stott to perform, she enters this game against Saint Benedict with a 18-2-6 record, .972 save-percentage, & 0.64 GAA…
The Mammoths will welcome Saint Benedict into Orr Rink in their first-ever NCAA tournament game, while Amherst looks to return back to the national championship as they’ve finished as a runner-up the past two of three seasons, falling to Gustavus in triple overtime in 2022-23 and Wisconsin-River Falls last season.
If Amherst wins, they’ll either welcome in east region Elmira College or MSP airport will be busy once again as Augsburg will fly cross country to Orr Rink.
#5 Augsburg University Auggies (21-4-1)
MIAC – At-Large
Like Hamline, Augsburg fell 1-0 in their semifinal game to Gustavus in overtime, adding to the MIAC chaos and taking up an unexpected at-large bid. The top-seeded Auggies enter the tournament this season looking to make another Frozen Four as they fell to Wisconsin-River Falls last season in the semifinals, capping off one of the best seasons in program history.
Now, the Auggies find themselves in a similar spot as they’ll be setting themselves up for a date with the Falcons in the semifinals if both teams win their respective games. First, they welcome Elmira who earned their way in via auto-bid after handing Nazareth their first loss of the season, finding themselves back in the tournament for the third straight season, fourth in five years.
This season, Augsburg was led by Nora Stepan on the stat sheet, the defenseman led with 17 goals & 15 assists for 32 points. In terms of goaltending, Marissa Paaske & Kayla Simonson split time, starting 13 & 11 games respectively, both going 10-2-0.
The Auggies signature wins this season in the non-conference included a sweep over Adrian on opening weekend and a sweep of HC Elizabeth Bauer’s alumna Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Augsburg enters winning 10 of their last 11, their one loss coming to Gustavus in the semifinals as mentioned.
If the Auggies win, they’ll either get a home rematch against Saint Benedict, or as mentioned, hop on a flight out of MSP and head to Massachusetts to face Amherst.
#6 Wilkes University Colonels (24-1-1)
MAC – Auto
Wilkes has really become the dominant team in the MAC ever since the auto-bid became a reality for the league. Head Coach Dave LaBaff has led his Colonels to another program-best season as they broke their program-best season of 22-5-1 set last season as the Colonels won the MAC and fell in the first round of the NCAA tournament on the road to Colby.
Similar to Nazareth, the Colonels sit with a very low SOS of 67th of 79th as they played a mere three non-conference games and 21 conference games (their non-conference game with Elmira was cancelled for an unknown reason which would’ve given them a full 25 game schedule).
It’s hard to judge Wilkes when looking at them this season as two of the three non-conference games were against Cortland (who’s a solid opponent, but a lack of variety), along with a game against Utica who finished 10-16-1. The Colonels are clearly capable of winning a lot of games and compete with solid opponents, but based on this season’s results, it’s really hard to tell how they’ll fare against an Adrian team who’s no stranger to NCAA tournaments and played teams such as Augsburg, Gustavus, Amherst, St. Norbert, & Concordia (Wis.) this season.
The Colonels’ signature win would be considered Cortland this season since they really had no variety with their schedule due to the high amount of conference games (21) as mentioned previously. I’m not faulting them, simply stating the facts that we’ve really only seen them play two teams other than fellow MAC schools, easily the least-diversified team in the NCAA tournament field.
The winner of this one will visit Rochester, NY the following weekend to take on Nazareth in the quarterfinal round. Wilkes would be making their first-ever quarterfinal appearance with a win over the Bulldogs.
#7 Hamline University Pipers (20-5-1)
MIAC – At-Large
It was a little rollercoaster for the Pipers on Saturday as they fell to Saint Benedict last weekend, dropping them to the ‘cutline’ of the at-large bids. The Pipers needed a pair of regulation wins from Amherst to secure their spot and they got their wish.
Hamline has been an interesting team this season and they have one dynamic not many teams out west can say, they do have a pair of wins from east region competition. Earlier this year they visited a ranked Endicott squad and then UMass-Boston the following day, beating them both 5-1. Lately, the Pipers took a little bit of a skid as they split with Gustavus to conclude their regular season and then fell to the eventual MIAC champion Saint Benedict in the MIAC semifinal.
This season, the Pipers have been led by their goaltending pair of Harper Powell & Kendra Nordick, splitting time, Nordick going 13-3-0 in 16 starts, 2.06 GAA, & .912 save-percentage, while Powell put up a 7-2-1 record in 10 starts, 1.45 GAA, & a .934 save-percentage.
Uniquely this season, usually we don’t get to see east and west teams play home/home series, but this season we’ll get a variation of that as the Gulls now visit the Pipers Saturday looking to avenge their 5-1 loss earlier this year as mentioned. HC Jake Bobrowski finds himself back in the dance. Whoever wins this game will visit Norwich at Kreitzberg next week. If Hamline wins, they’ll hop on a plane out of MSP and if Endicott wins, they’ll fly home from Saint Paul and hop on a bus to Norwich for a regional quarterfinal.
#8 Williams College Ephs (17-4-5)
NESCAC – At-Large
Williams had one of their best seasons as a program in recent memory, finishing 17-4-5, their most wins since 2018-19 (21-5-3), getting into the dance as the final at-large bid after we saw a few upsets in the MIAC & UCHC which shortened some of the assumed at-large bids.
The Ephs have been led by their senior goaltender Erin Pye who put up a record of 14-4-4 with a save percentage of .964 & GAA of 1.21.
Williams had some quietly good wins this season in the non-conference, defeating Norwich and Plattsburgh early in the season (Nov. & Dec.). The Ephs also defeated Lake Forest of the NCHA in a random east/west crossover game.
The Ephs went unbeaten for 16 games from November 19th to January 31st, their best stretch of the season. The Ephs are fortunate Amherst defeated Colby as Colby was one of two teams just behind them in the NPI, the other being Middlebury, allowing them to hold on to the final bid after a stellar season. Williams’ fortunate for their NPI spot as Middlebury was just on the outside looking in after going 1-0-1 against the Ephs this season with a very similar record.
The Ephs will face Plattsburgh who’s no stranger to NCAA tournaments and it’s a rematch as mentioned from earlier this season. The winner gets a date with the back-to-back national champion Wisconsin-River Falls.
#9 Plattsburgh State Cardinals (20-6-1)
SUNYAC – Auto
In my midseason article, Plattsburgh wasn’t exactly having the greatest of seasons as they set some records you don’t want to set if you’re in their position, but they really came around the second half of the season and are now visiting Williams with the chance to fly and face Wisconsin-River Falls in the quarterfinals. Plattsburgh ended the season 15-1-1 in their last 17 games after starting the year 5-5-0 which included losses to Williams and UW-River Falls, two teams they’ll have the chance to avenge their losses against.
In goal, Maddy Stetson really came around this season, entering the tournament with a 11-2-1 record, .954 save-percentage, & 0.80 GAA.
In the Cardinals first meeting with the Ephs, they outshot them 40-16, but fell by the score of 2-1 on home ice. Clearly, this is a different team now as this game was played back in early December during the Cardinals rough start, but now we get to see them back in the NCAA tournament after defeating Cortland 4-1 in the SUNYAC finals. The Cardinals have only missed the NCAA tournament three times since 2001 (’02, ’03, ’11) and this year they find themselves back there after needing the auto bid.
For Plattsburgh, their signature wins this season came against Norwich & Middlebury, one of only two teams to defeat the Cadets this season (Williams being the other).
With a win over the Ephs, the Cardinals will fly to Wisconsin for a fun matchup between HC Kevin Houle & HC Joe Cranston as they look to spoil the Falcons opportunity to win three straight titles.
#10 Endicott College Gulls (21-4-2)
CNE – Auto
Endicott started their season off with a couple of statement games as they really seem to have taken that next step as a program, defeating Plattsburgh & Middlebury and tying Middlebury as well to go unbeaten against the Panthers this season. The Gulls also gave UW-River Falls a very close game in the Cardinal/Panther Classic final, losing 3-1.
The Gulls defeated Western New England 1-0 in overtime to avoid the upset as they needed the auto-bid if they wanted to dance this season. However, they’ll meet a familiar opponent as mentioned earlier in Hamline. The Gulls were dominated at home earlier this year against the Pipers, now, they’ll jump on a flight out of Boston I’d presume to MSP and face the Pipers in the TRIA to determine who goes on to face Norwich.
The Gulls have been led by Teaghan Hall with 11 goals & 16 assists for 27 points, behind her is Cammi Ahern with 21 points (8G, 13A), the two 20-point scorers on the team.
In net, Lauren Ferrari has been stellar, holding a record of 13-2-1, save-percentage of .951, & a GAA of 1.24.
Endicott will look to advance to the quarterfinals this season after they were eliminated last season in the first round by Nazareth 4-2, which was the Golden Flyers’ first-ever NCAA tournament game win. This will be a fun one in Saint Paul as traditionally we never would’ve been able to see a ‘home/home’ series between two teams this far away from each other (MA / MN).
#11 Adrian College Bulldogs (25-5-0)
NCHA – Auto
Adrian College had a rough start to the season this year whether it be transfer portal issues or falling to Augsburg without a top player in the lineup, but in NCHA play they dominated as they tend to do. Their lone loss coming to Concordia-Wisconsin who had their best season ever as a program.
The Bulldogs were led by senior Riley Johnson who put up 54 points (23G, 31A) and sophomore goaltender Kiera Stack who finished with a 21-5-0 record, .946 save-percentage, & 1.27 GAA.
Adrian is coming off a win against their rivals St. Norbert, defeating them 4-3 in overtime after the Bulldogs swept the Green Knights earlier this season.
The Bulldogs were dealt a pretty good deck of cards here all things considered; they’ll visit the Toyota Sportsplex to face Wilkes University who as mentioned earlier played an entire three non-conference games two being against Cortland. Adrian visits Wilkes who went 24-1-1 this season and then with a win, will face Nazareth who went 25-1-1. At first looks for a casual, some may say Adrian got the hardest draw based on record, but the Bulldogs have been dealt the teams with the lowest SOS’s in the field, with Wilkes at 67/79 & Nazareth at 63/79.
Granted, Adrian has the third-lowest SOS due to their conference strength like the other two, but they faced a great non-conference slate which includes the likes of Augsburg, Gustavus, & Amherst.
This game is intriguing as we don’t really know what to expect from Wilkes as clearly, they’re a good team, but we have no idea what they’ll present outside of MAC play for the most part…
#12 Elmira College Soaring Eagles (19-5-2)
UCHC – Auto
Elmira has quietly been one of the more successful tournament teams in recent memory which includes a national runner-up finish Wisconsin-River Falls two years ago. Last season, they defeated Plattsburgh in the opening round, but fell to the eventual national champions for the second-straight year UW-River Falls.
This season, Elmira welcomed the UCHC with their presence after a stint in the NEHC where they had plenty of success. This year, their UCHC title put them back on top of all-time titles as Nazareth tied the Soaring Eagles with four last season. Elmira had a few head-scratching games this season, including losses to Potsdam (HC Greg Haney’s former team) and Hamilton, along with a tie against St. John Fisher. Prior to their UCHC title win over Nazareth, their signature win came against Plattsburgh in the East-West Hockey Classic opening round (would fall to Norwich in the final 5-4 in OT).
Elmira is one of the east teams being shipped out west, the Soaring Eagles will visit the Augsburg Auggies in Minneapolis, MN where they’ll be a short drive away from their east partner Endicott who visits Hamline in Saint Paul.
Augsburg will be Elmira’s biggest test yet this season, but they’ve shown they can play with anyone year-in and year-out. Expect Elmira to give the 5th-seeded Auggies all they can handle, with the winner playing the winner of Amherst & Saint Benedict. This quadrant as mentioned has fun matchup potential as we get to see matchups we’ll only get to see in very rare cases.
#13 Saint Benedict Bennies (16-7-4)
MIAC – Auto
Head Coach Lindsay Macy has done wonders at the helm of Saint Benedict. The Bennies are setting all kinds of program records this season and are making their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance after winning their first MIAC Conference Title in program history.
The Bennies are riding a four game win streak as they swept the Cobbers to close out the regular season and then pulled off the first major upset of the tournament, defeating the 2-seed Hamline and then capping it off with a win over the Golden Gusties of Gustavus who have been the dominant team the past few decades of the MIAC.
This season, they’ve shown a lot of depth on the stat sheet, seven players with 10+ and Helena Siska leading the way with 12 goals & 12 assists for 22 points. In net, their star freshman goaltender Lexi Badali has put up a record of 12-6-3, but holds a 1.75 GAA & .941 save-percentage.
The Bennies best non-conference opponent was UW-River Falls in their opening game of the season, losing 7-1, but they’re a different team now and I believe will present more issues for Amherst than fans from out east may believe as I’m going to go off on a whim here and say they might not have watched much Saint Benedict hockey prior to this Saturday. Saint Benedict plays a relentless style and can cause a lot of issues if you aren’t ready and/or familiar with it. Their game with Amherst for me is one of the most intriguing matchups of round one.
Saint Benedict flies to Amherst as mentioned earlier where with a win, they’ll with hop on another flight to face Elmira if the Soaring Eagles pull off the upset, or they’ll drive over to a familiar rink in Minneapolis, MN at Augsburg for their chance at a Frozen Four appearance.
