Rarely, if ever, do preseason rankings turn out to be accurate representations of a season when all is said and done. There’s always so much turnover, and turmoil, and unexpected twists and turns throughout the regular season that some teams at the top are bound to fall and others are bound to rise.
But in the case of the Women’s Division III standings, this prognosticator can’t help but to pause for a brief second and pat himself on the back given how close to perfect his predictions turned out to be. Really, however, the credit belongs to Endicott, Colorado School of Mines, and East Stroudsburg – and also Siena, who started the season ranked #8 before sliding off the rankings – for battling the aforementioned stumbling blocks that can take out contenders and securing their place in the National Semifinals.
The only participant from 2024 to miss out on this year’s party is the University of Wisconsin - Platteville, last year’s third-place finishers, who were upended by upstart Siena 29-17 in the first round of regionals. While the Saints could have walked away happy with a huge upset win under their belt, they refused to rest on their laurels and went on to beat Northern Michigan 67-36. That win earned the school its first ever trip to Nationals and made them every unaffiliated fan’s feel-good pick to win it all.
The Saints are more than a feel-good story, however, as they have fought hard to get themselves onto this stage. They went 8-1 in the regular season, slipping up only once against RPI in the Tri-State Conference playoffs. Siena responded with a win over TCNJ, making them the second seed to come out of the Tri-State and sending them to the Midwest Region where the rest is history. Keira Vickers, Gabriela Jimenez, Kayla Wronski, and Tallulah Powers have been the drivers of the Saints’ success all year. There’s also no telling what Olivia McQuhae might do in their semifinal matchup after the first-year went off for seven tries against Northern Michigan the last time the team played.
Siena will have to bring their absolute ‘A’ game if they want to keep this run alive, however, as they face off against last year’s runners up in Colorado School of Mines. The Orediggers came within one score of taking down Endicott in last year’s final, and have looked incredibly motivated all season to get another shot.
Led by All-American Aliya Lynn and Primetime Piper Lee, Mines has suffered no fools this postseason, sending North Dakota packing for the second straight year, 59-5, and nipping another potential feel good story in the bud after suffocating a Wisconsin Stevens Point team coming off an upset of #2 Wayne State a day earlier. Will the Orediggers be able to prove that Siena’s good fortune was also fool’s gold?
On the other side of the bracket, the matchup between Endicott and East Stroudsburg has the potential to be a seismic clash. The Gulls are the defending champs and have maintained their iron grip on the division so far in 2025 under head coach Carly Baker. Two wins over a feisty Yale team earned Endicott its billionth North Atlantic Conference Championship and a bye in the first round of the regional playoffs, where a 52-17 win over Colby earned them another ticket to Nationals. Colleen Mitchell was a force in the game against Colby, scoring five of the team’s eight tries. Mitchell, along with All-Americans Laryssa Landmesser and Chloe Marconi, will lead the charge for the Gulls in the matchup against East Stroudsburg, but look for players like Marin Shaffer and Olivia Horton to also make an impact in the match.
In last year’s semifinal match, Endicott hung 91 points on an East Stroudsburg side that felt like it was gaining momentum after a dominant regular season. In 2025, it seems as though the Warriors have set out to score 91 points or more against anyone who takes the field with them, just so they too can feel what it’s like. They cruised to their third EPRU championship, routinely beating teams by double digits. And, led by Ashlyn Mugavero and Tara Bogansky, ESU opened postseason play by beating Hofstra 140 - 0. They followed that up with a more respectable yet equally as dominant 48-12 victory over SUNY Cortland to set up this rematch with Endicott.
The Warriors have a dangerous forward pack with All-American Julie Nilsen, Na’Zyia Taylor and Lauren Wehr, and a dangerous backline with Mugavero, Bogansky, Abigail Collins and Bethany Wise. But will that be enough to put the Gulls in danger of an early – by their standards – playoff exit? Tune in Saturday, December 6, to find out.
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