Fifteen teams entered, four remain at the conclusion of the Regional playoffs in Women’s Division III with all four teams having made strong statements in their finals matchups.
The defending champions, Endicott, showed a little bit of rust to start in their match against Colby after having earned a first-round bye. The Gulls trailed 5-0 and 10-7 before things began to click towards the end of the first half. Elizabeth Chapman and Mira Gardner were the try scorers for Colby early on, while Laryssa Landmesser and Marin Shaffer kept Endicott’s score tally ticking up. From then on it was all Collen Mitchell, who put in an epic playoff offensive performance for the ages. The sophomore ripped off five straight scores in the second half to put the game out of reach and keep the Gull’s hopes of winning a third national championship in four years alive.
Endicott will face a fire-breathing dragon in the semifinals in December, however, in the form of a red-hot East Stroudsburg side that outscored its opponents 188-12 on the weekend. After a 140-0 shutout of their round one opponent, the Warriors offense continued to roll early on against SUNY Cortland in round two. Julia Nilsen, Tara Bogansky, Lauren Wehr, and Ashlyn Mugavero scored to put Stroudsburg up 24-0 at the half. Both Mugavero and Bogansky would score again the second to counteract scores by Cortland’s Abigail Duncan and Emily Russo in a game the Warriors went on to win 48-12.
Another strong semifinal match has formed on the other side of the bracket as the bracket-busting Siena Saints prepare to take on last year’s second place team, Colorado School of Mines. The Mules look just as strong, if not stronger, than they did in 2024. After blitzing North Dakota 59-5 in the opening round, Mines handled a surprisingly strong UW-Stevens Point in the West Regional final, 38-7. Primetime Piper Lee had herself a game, scoring three times and nailing a conversion to make up the bulk of Colorado’s offensive output. Grace Farrell put in the lone score for the Pioneers, who captured the attention of the nation with a round-one upset of #2 Wayne State, but couldn’t maintain their momentum into the finals.
After ending one upset bid on Sunday, the Mules will hope to do the same in December when they face off against Siena in the semifinals. The Saints kneecapped #4 UW - Platteville in round one and then boatraced #11 Northern Michigan in the Midwest Final 67-36. First Year Olivia McQuhae ascended to a higher plane of existence in the match, scoring an unseemly seven tries for Siena. The Saints needed every last point in this one as Northern Michigan never made it easy, keeping things tight for the majority of the contest. Center Ella Ericksen did her best to match McQuhae’s scoring output with four tries of her own in the contest. But the Northstars ultimately didn’t have enough gas in the tank to keep up with Siena, who, like the other winners on Sunday, will now turn their attention to Texas, and a potential National Championship.
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