2025 NCAA Division III Tournament: First Round

(Team listed first is host)

A perfect 11-0 record at home is on the line for Centennial Conference runners-up Dickinson, No. 11 nationally, as it hosts United East champions St. Mary's College of Maryland in Carlisle, Pa. The Devils’ have completed a remarkable turnaround this season under first-year head coach Maggie Sohns, who inherited a program that hadn’t finished above .500 since 2018.

Sohns and assistant coach Sara Reddington nabbed Centennial Conference Coaching Staff of the Year honors while three Dickinson players earned First Team honors in forward Nicole Uebele, defender Natalie Slusser, and goalkeeper Taylor Morrow. Defense has been the name of the game for the Devils: Morrow ranks eighth nationally in goals against average (0.76) and 15th in save percentage (.833).

That provides the perfect foil to the visitors, who finished tied for 12th in D-III with 3.5 goals per game. The Seahawks are comfortable at winning in a variety of ways, though, as they routed Lancaster Bible, 9-0, in the United East semifinals before eking out a 1-0 win in double overtime against Penn State Harrisburg in the final. St. Mary’s has 11 shutouts under its belt thanks to United East Defensive Player of the Year Jena Vanskiver and goalkeeper Sophia Kent, so this could be a low-scoring defensive affair well worth tuning in for.

FINAL: DICKINSON 3 - 1 ST MARY'S

A pair of 16-win sides square off in Glassboro, N.J., for the second time this season and if the first meeting was any indication of what’s in store, this should be a barnburner. No. 13 Rowan, the NJAC champions after a thrilling overtime win over TCNJ, welcomes in the ODAC titlewinners in No. 17 Lynchburg. Back in the first week of October, the Profs erased a 3-2 halftime deficit and won, 4-3, in overtime thanks to Gracie Merrick’s 62nd minute goal.

Rowan enters with 16 wins, three of the overtime variety, and boasts quite the offense. The Profs are 17th nationally in goals per game (3.43) and have been held scoreless just twice in 21 games. NJAC Rookie of the Year Sydney Kowalczyk paces the offense with 17 goals and six assists while fellow First Team selections Mia Foti (10 goals) and Merrick (three goals, five assists) are two more of 20 players that have found the back of the cage.

Lynchburg, meanwhile, features an even more formidable attack: The Hornets averaged just under four and a half goals per game, third nationally, and paired that with a stifling defense that ranked in the Top 25 in goals against average. ODAC Offensive Player of the Year Anna Dorrestijn has 21 goals and 14 assists to her name while Danielle Coon, Maddie Schuchter, and Saar Prins all have double-digit goals. This will be the third matchup between these sides in two years and the previous two had a combined 14 goals, setting the stage for what should be quite the opening round game.

FINAL: ROWAN 2 - 3 LYNCHBURG

A new conference didn’t disrupt Salisbury, who swept through the SUNYAC in both the regular season and postseason. The Gulls have won eight straight and put that to the test against NCAC champions Denison, an opponent they’ve won all 11 historical matchups against but haven’t faced since 2008.

Salisbury, No. 5 in the Coaches Poll, is as balanced of a team as they come and a serious contender to make a deep run in the postseason. The Gulls are top five in both goals per game (4.1) and goals against average (0.52) thanks to a forward line that features the duo of Marli McDorman (17 goals, 10 assists) and McKenna Horner (15 goals) and a defense that has spun six shutouts. 

Denison, meanwhile, is playing its best field hockey at the right time. After a 1-0 loss to NCAC regular season champion Ohio Wesleyan back in mid-October, the Big Red rattled off five straight wins including a 2-1 overtime win against the Battling Bishops. Denison’s Emma Gebhart was the hero in extra time and has only raised her game after earning 2024 NCAC Offensive Player of the Year honors — she has 22 goals after 15 a year ago.

FINAL: SALISBURY 5 - 0 DENISON

It has been a year of firsts for No. 15 Stevenson: The Mustangs won their first-ever MAC Commonwealth regular season and tournament titles, earning the program’s first bid to the NCAA Tournament as a result. They’ll put a 13-0 home record and seven-game winning streak up against NEWMAC runners-up No. 22 WPI on Wednesday afternoon in Owings Mills, Md.

Stevenson enters with just two losses — in overtime to Messiah and to No. 5 Salisbury — and the 19 wins under head coach Morgan Bitting are the most in program history. All-MAC First Team selection Gracyn Catalano paces the offense with 12 goals while fellow honoree in goalkeeper Jordan Vradenburgh is third nationally in goals against average (0.60).

WPI, on the other hand, has its most wins since 2019 on the back of an elite defense. The Engineers have won five of its last six and allowed just three goals in that span, coming up just short against No. 3 Babson in the NEWMAC final. Myles Lakin has been similarly stout in goal, ranking within the top-20 nationally in goals against average, while the offense has run through Lauren Meinhold (10 goals) and Abbey Powers (nine goals). These two sides have never met.

Over the last seven seasons, Middlebury has gone a combined 147-7 with seven national championships. This year, however, the Panthers have come down to earth by their lofty standards: At 12-5 and No. 9 nationally, they’re far from the presumptive tournament favorite. After a heartbreaking shootout loss to Bates in the NESCAC semifinals, Middlebury looks to resume its title defense as it welcomes in MASCAC champion Westfield State.

The visiting Owls, with back-to-back conference titles under their belt, set a new program record for wins (18) this season. The biggest difference from last year’s conference champion side has been the offense: They’ve nearly doubled their goals per game to 3.62, ninth nationally. Kaleigh Murphy has paced the team with 18 goals and eight assists while three others have double-digit goals.

Middlebury, one of a conference-record eight NESCAC teams in the field, features a pair of All-Conference First Team selections in Grace Keefe and Megan Fuqua. Fuqua has nine goals while Keefe has been a constant presence on the field and has anchored the backline. The Panthers are battle-tested, with nine overtime or shootout games under its belt, and bring in a historic 61-16 NCAA Tournament record as it chases TCNJ’s nation-leading 11 national championship total and looks for No. 10.

FINAL: MIDDLEBURY 6 - 0 WESTFIELD ST

A historic year for No. 8 Endicott — a program record in wins (20) and a first-ever Conference of New England (CNE) championship — continues with a rematch of a regular season 5-0 win over Little East champions Keene State. Tori Swanson netted a hat trick for the Gulls in that victory back in early October.

Swanson was one of eight All-CNE First Team selections for the Gulls, who bring in a remarkable 20-game winning streak. A narrow 4-3 setback against Babson on the first day of the season is the lone blemish on Endicott’s record. They rank first in the nation in goals per game (5.1) behind Swanson (23 goals), Reagan Hicks (20), Maddy Dengler (17), and Riley Perkins (11). They also are fifth in goals against average thanks to CNE Defensive Player of the Year Riley Perkins and Goalkeeper of the Year Faith Minickene.

Keene State won its league record 16th Little East championship, defending its 2024 title thanks to a goal from Meghan Daileanes (her 11th of the season) in the 47th minute against Eastern Connecticut in the final. The Owls boast the nation’s top goal scorer in Grace Bazin, who holds a healthy 10-goal edge on the second-place player with a whopping 37 in 21 games. She was held to just two shots on goal when these two met earlier in the season, one of just two games she didn’t score in all year, so that’s a particular focus if Keene State is to pull off an upset.

An intriguing first-ever meeting between MAC Freedom champion Stevens and at-large Amherst out of the NESCAC features a high-flying offense and a team that is certainly better than its .500 record. The No. 10 Ducks led the country in assists per game, spreading the wealth effectively as it has won its last nine games. The No. 25 Mammoths, meanwhile, are as battle-tested as you can be with six overtime games and 11 of its 16 games decided by a single goal.

Stevens nabbed a trio of MAC Freedom awards with Rookie of the Year Brooke Hughes, Defensive Player of the Year Lauren Flynn, and the Coaching Staff of the Year headlined by 10th-year head coach Meredith Spencer-Blaetz. Hughes tallied 17 points, one of nine in double-figures, while Flynn anchored the backline in front of single-season wins program record holder Lily Wierzbicki.

Amherst finished with a narrow plus-four goal differential, the product of the 15th-toughest schedule. The NESCAC’s strength and respect garnered by the selection committee saw the Mammoths earn a bid despite a 4-6 conference record and 3-2 loss to No. 6 Tufts in the tournament quarterfinals. They’ll travel to Hoboken, N.J., for their first NCAA Tournament game since 2011.

FINAL: STEVENS 1 - 2 (SO) AMHERST

The NESCAC regular season champions, No. 6 Tufts had an 11-game winning streak end in the conference semifinals but is a formidable squad that will host GNAC champions Dean at Ounjian Field in Medford, Mass.

Jumbos’ head coach Tina Matter picked up her 300th career win in the NESCAC quarterfinals and is looking to guide her team to an elusive second title. Tufts has lost three championship games in 2016, 2018, and 2024 since its 2012 title. The Jumbos have the team to do it this season with a balanced group headlined by All-NESCAC selections in goalkeeper Lydia Eastburn, defender Claire Casey, and forward Hannah Biccard (13 goals).

Dean, on the other hand, is making program history the moment they take the field. The Bulldogs had six straight losing seasons since its reinstatement for the 2018 campaign but GNAC Coach of the Year Megan Gutierrez, in her fourth year at the helm, has put together a winner. Dean went 16-7 and beat Colby-Sawyer, 3-1, to win its first-ever GNAC title and secure the program’s first NCAA Tournament bid. A potent offense averaged over three and a half goals per game behind the headlining duo of Sydnee Ramos (26 goals, 10 assists) and Emily Yazzetti (20 goals, 21 assists).

After a stretch of eight ranked opponents in nine games to end the year, No. 18 Williams hosts Liberty League champions Vassar in what will be the first-ever meeting between the two Northeast schools. The Ephs finished fifth in the deep NESCAC conference are coming off a 2024 campaign in which it made a run to the national semifinals, while the visiting Brewers nabbed their first conference title since 2021.

Williams has star power: Three-time All-NESCAC First Team selection Pilar Torres headlines the defense while senior forward Kiki Higgins, the conference’s 2022 Rookie of the Year, added to her trophy cabinet with the Offensive Player of the Year award this season. Higgins had 12 goals and five assists with eight of those scores coming in NESCAC play. Williams was better defensively this year, aided by Torres and goalkeeper Ellie Smith in holding opponents to just over a goal per game.

Vassar brings in a five-game winning streak and its best record under third-year head coach Anne Kietzman Fowler. The Brewers were picked sixth in the conference’s preseason poll but won its first three Liberty League games and eventually locked up the top seed before dispatching William Smith and Union. Keep an eye on forwards Zoe Robinson (13 goals) and Karina Hoffman (10 goals) as well as talented junior goalkeeper Grace Wiley.

After a three-year hiatus, Bowdoin is back in the NCAA Tournament and the at-large No. 16 Polar Bears were rewarded for a challenging NESCAC schedule by getting the opportunity to host Landmark Conference champions Scranton in Brunswick, Maine.

Bowdoin’s marquee stretch this season was its response to back-to-back overtime losses to open NESCAC play. The Bears upset Williams in overtime and followed up that victory with a stunning shootout win over Middlebury, the program’s first win over the seven-time defending national champions since 2015. Bowdoin has lost five straight games in which every opponent is in the NCAA Tournament field, but a tight 3-2 loss to Middlebury in the NESCAC quarterfinals took overtime to decide.

Scranton returns after an absence as well, finally overcoming Susquehanna in what was the third championship meeting between the two in as many years. One of the hottest teams in the country, the Royals have won 11 straight games — four of which were on the road — and boast the No. 8 offense in the country. Annie Shaw tallied twice against Susquehanna to bring her season total to 19, while teammate Maggie Keys has filled up the statsheet with 10 goals and 18 assists.

FINAL: BOWDOIN 7 - 0 SCRANTON

It’s back-to-back Empire 8 conference titles for No. 21 SUNY Geneseo, who hits the road to Clinton, N.Y., as they take on NESCAC at-large side No. 12 Hamilton. The visiting Knights have won 16 straight games and have just one loss to its name this season, a tight 2-1 defeat to Ithaca that came back on September 13.

Hamilton finished third in the NESCAC thanks to a prolific late surge: It won four of its final five conference games, taking down No. 4 Bates, No. 25 Amherst, Connecticut College, and Trinity. The Continentals lost a tough one in shootouts in a rematch with Bates in the NESCAC quarterfinals, but bring in a strong side that nabbed three All-Conference honorees in midfielders Sammy Higgins and Lilly Truchon along with defender Isabelle Nahon.

SUNY Geneseo’s 20 wins are its most in program history and that’s been a byproduct of a fantastic offense, one on display in a 5-1 championship win over Nazareth. The Knights are second nationally in goals per game (4.76) thanks to the efforts of Ella Grieco (28 goals), Aubree Wenner (14), and Halle Senfield (11). Pair that with a defense that has held opponents to just 12 goals on the season — Bridget Schaefer is second in goals against average (0.53) — and you can see why the wins have stacked up.

FINAL: HAMILTON 2 - 1 (OT) SUNY GENESEO

Wesleyan has recorded back-to-back double-digit win seasons for the first time since 2004-05 and, after an inspired run to the NESCAC championship game, will host Atlantic East champion Marywood in Middletown, Conn. 

The No. 7 Cardinals were dominant in every category but the final score against third-seeded Bates in the conference tournament final, falling 2-0 despite a 26-6 shot advantage. Still, it was an impressive run as they took down Williams and Tufts and are firmly a top-10 team and title contender. Wesleyan boasts All-NESCAC First Team goalkeeper Audrey Pace alongside the conference’s Rookie of the Year in Emily Smith, who has four goals and five assists. Leila Feldman is the headliner on the offense with 11 goals, six of which have been gamewinners.

Marywood went back-to-back in the Atlantic East, going 4-0 in the regular season before sweeping the conference tournament with consecutive wins by three goals. The Pacers had a daunting draw last year with a trip to Johns Hopkins and another challenging opponent awaits in Connecticut. To pull off an upset, look for the conference tournament MVP in forward Dariane Jones (15 goals, six assists) to have a big game. Jones has scored in five of her last six games and is 13th among active D-III players in career points (120).