The quest for glory in Women’s Division III begins on Saturday when 15 teams will enter the Regionals weekend round-up but only four will leave having punched their ticket to the National playoffs in Houston.

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With the #1 team in the country, the North Atlantic Conference Champion Endicott Gulls, earning a bye in round one, we will start by turning our attention towards #2 ranked Wayne State and their opening matchup against unranked UW - Stevens Point. 

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The Wildcats have had a strong year going 6-1 in their third fall season under head coach Bryn Chivers, their only loss coming at the hands of DII program Winona State. Led by All-American Mary McKulsky and Flyhalf Shae Wiederien, Wayne State owned the Prairie States this fall, even beating a conference selects side 73-20 in September. The Pointers, who finished second in the Great Waters conference, will have trouble containing the litany of weapons on the other side of the pitch and might be in for a long day at the office, especially with the Wildcats making it their mission to advance out of the first round of Regionals.

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Wayne State came into this season with extra motivation after a promising regular season in 2024 ended prematurely after the Wildcats were clipped 41-40 in the opening round game they led by double digits in the first half. And who was it that handed Wayne State this disappointing result last fall? None other than the University of North Dakota who are staring at the Wildcats from the other side of the bracket in Springfield, MO. The Sweet Demons went 4-1 on their way to winning the Northern Lights conference, with their only loss coming at the hands of apparent DIII killer Winona State. They are player-coached by Alicia Young and Alex Gasparini, led by team captain Liv Wyland, and always ready for a tough fight.

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In order to set up that playoff rematch, however, #14 UND will first have to get through last year’s National runners-up, #7 Colorado School of Mines, a task which is most certainly easier said than done. All-American Alia Lynn sets the tone physically on both offense and defense for the Orediggers and sophomore Piper Lee is a nuclear-level gamebreaker in the backline. They owned the state of Colorado during the regular season and have a taste for that sweet playoff air in Houston, which is something that’s hard to let go off once it gets in your system. This is certainly one of the games to watch in the opening round this weekend.

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Another matchup to keep your eye on is happening on the other side of the West bracket between #4 Wisconsin - Platteville and unranked Siena. Perennial contender Platteville put up another predictably perfect performance this year on their way to yet another Great Waters title. Their only loss came against top DII program Wisconsin Eau-Claire (not Winona State this time) 19-38. Despite getting pushed early in October by UW - Stevens Point in a 28-26 victory, the Pioneers rebounded to beat them more convincingly in the conference championship 46-29. The team is led by the center pairing of Taylor “Binky” Brink and Violet “Archer” Lawrence, along with loose forwards McKenna “Pebbles” Dutton and Jordan “Donny” Kamenz. The Pioneers also lead the league in the number of nicknames included in their social media lineup graphics.

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Siena may be unranked but they had a strong year before losing to RPI 29-5 in the Tri-State Conference playoffs. The Saints also made a lot of noise in last year’s playoffs, however, pushing Colby to the brink in a 66-61 score-splosion. All-American Tallulah Powers and co. have only improved since last year and represent a strong early test of this Platteville team’s mettle.

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The final game in the West is also a must watch as two very evenly-matched teams square off for a shot at playoff redemption. Last year, #10 SUNY Geneseo fell three points shy of knocking off eventual semifinalists East Stroudsburg after beating Christopher Newport 34-7 while #12 Northern Michigan was blitzed in round one by the surprising, second-place finishing Orediggers, but went on to beat Wayne State 52-12 in the consolation game. Both have had up and down seasons so far this year, with Geneseo finishing behind SUNY Cortland in Upstate NY and Northern Michigan losing to both Platteville and Stevens Point, and so both will be hoping they can round into form when it matters most here at playoff time.

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Out in the East there are five ranked teams, four of them in the top ten, that will be vying for a trip to Houston. The only team guaranteed a win in the first round is #1 ranked Endicott, who have earned themselves a bye. The Gulls are entering their first postseason in four years without superstar Tess Merrill to rely on. But Carly Baker’s program has proven it’s more than just one single player, capturing yet another North Atlantic Collegiate Rugby Conference title despite being pushed by upstarts Yale. Colleen Mitchell had three tries in the NACR championship win, while All-American Chloe Marconi scored two. Fellow All-American Laryssa Landmeiser scored a try in the regular season meeting between the two clubs, as did Cai Machuga and Marin Shaffer, who was named the game’s MVP, highlighting just how deep and dangerous this Endicott team can be.

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Playing for a shot at Endicott are two evenly matched teams in #9 Colby and #13 Middlebury. The Rugby Northeast foes met earlier this season where, despite Colby scoring 40+ points in their previous three matches, they found themselves barely skating by with a 7-0 win in a slugfest against the Panthers. Look for All-American center Leila Gerry to make the difference for the Mules in this rematch as they walk a very similar playoff path to 2024. As mentioned earlier, Colby were triumphant over Siena in a hotly contested opening round match only to lose convincingly at the hands of Endicott in the Regional Final.

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Down in the South Regional, #3 East Stroudsburg and #5 SUNY Cortland are on a collision course with an excellent chance of meeting in their Regional Final game on Sunday. Standouts Tara Bogansky and Sara Shook, along with flyhalf Ashlyn Mugavero and All-American front-rower Julia Nilsen, have led the charge for ESU this season while they ran roughshod over the Eastern Penn Rugby Union. The team is coming off of a 103-0 victory over Loyola Maryland in the conference championship and it will be a tall order for the unranked Hofstra Pride, who went 2-2 in the Tri-State this season, to hold East Stroudsburg to any more of a respectable scoreline.

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SUNY Cortland will have a somewhat tougher test in their opening round matchup against an unranked Christopher Newport, a team that rode solid play on both sides of the ball to their third consecutive MARC Championship. Georg Harsh and Bella Sangiuliano starred for the captains in that match and will have to be at the absolute top of their game if they hope to upset the Peace Frogs, who are anything but peaceful when they’re on the pitch. 

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Cortland were the champs in Upstate NY this fall, defeating #11 Colgate 24-22 to claim the title. 76, 76, and 90 were the team’s point totals against anyone who wasn’t Colgate this season while they surrendered only 19 points total across those three matches. The Peace Frogs have a strong senior core of players led by Haighleigh Rhodes, who had two tries and kicked 10 (!) conversions in the team’s 90-12 win over Hamilton. 

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All matches streamed live on the National Collegiate Rugby YouTube channel. For more rugby news, check out TheCollegeRugbyShow.com.