"It’s been 1,099 days since then-freshman Jane Earley helped lead Middlebury to the 2019 NCAA Division III Women’s Lacrosse Championship.
A lot has changed since then. The 2020 season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic that wiped out the NCAA championship. While many schools around the country competed in 2021 coming out of the pandemic, including several of Middlebury’s New England Small College Athletic Conference rivals, the Panthers did not.
Instead, Middlebury watched Salisbury, the team it beat in the 2019 final, beat its NESCAC rival, Tufts, to capture the 2021 championship.
But on Sunday at Roanoke College in Salem, Va., it seemed like nothing had changed since that May day in 2019 when Middlebury ruled the roost. Earley scored three of the first six goals of the game to stake Middlebury to an early 5-1 lead over Tufts and the Panthers went on to beat the Jumbos, 13-5, capturing their eighth NCAA title overall and third since 2016."
>> Worth Noting: "Earley, the one-time Boston College commit, scored more than 400 goals in her high school career at Falmouth (Mass.) Academy before deciding to play collegiately at the Division III level."
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LACROSSE (M)
2. RIT Goes Back-to-Back
by Bob Chavez, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
"RIT has never really been known as a second-half team because it’s never really had to be one.
But on Sunday, it became one. And as a result, the Tigers became a two-time defending national champion.
The Rochester Institute of Technology men’s lacrosse team won the 2022 NCAA Division III national championship for a second straight year, riding a wave of momentum the Tigers created themselves in the second half en route to a 12-10 win over Union College in East Hartford, Conn."
>> Situational Awareness: "Sunday’s victory made RIT an NCAA champ for a second straight season and it's now 2-2 in the national championship game after losing in the 2013 and 2017 finals. The Tigers also became the sixth team in Division III history to win consecutive titles."
>> What They're Saying: “We talked a bit about the legacy piece and leaving our mark as the sixth team ever in Division III to win back-to-back titles, so it’s incredible to be part of that small group of fantastic lacrosse programs,” said head coach Jake Coon.
What more could you ask for out of a national championship meet?
Loras led through 19 events, but UW-La Crosse surged ahead thanks to nine points from its athletes in the triple jump. That gave the Eagles a two-point lead over the Duhawks, setting up the climatic finish. And based on pre-meet form charts, Loras had the stronger 4×400 relay squad – ranked second nationally coming into the meet – but anything could happen when adrenaline is pumping and nerves are running high.
Through two legs of the relay, Loras sat second with UW-La Crosse five spots behind. Then, after three legs, the Duhawks handed the baton off second once again, while the Eagles made up some ground to fifth. That would be as close as UW-La Crosse – or anybody else, for that matter – got to Loras, as Alyssa Pfadenhauer dropped a 53.18 anchor to send the Duhawks to their third consecutive national title."
"It’s only fitting that a program known as MultiU in NCAA DIII almost scores in 10 events to win the national title.
That’s what UW-Eau Claire did this past weekend, as it snared at least four points in nine different events on its way to a dominant victory. The Blugolds scored 73 points, the most by a men’s team champion since UW-La Crosse stockpiled 99 in 2007.
Kenneth Wei made history for MIT, as he became the first male athlete in NCAA DIII history to win the 110-meter hurdles and the long jump at the same Championships. Wei didn’t just win the long jump: he soared to a meet record 7.88m (25-10¼) on his final attempt of the competition and moved up to No. 3 in NCAA DIII history in the process."
"Wellesley College crew captured the 2022 NCAA Division III National Championship on Saturday afternoon at Nathan Benderson Park. The national title is the program's second and the first since 2016.
The Blue finished in second in both the Varsity 8+ (V8+) and Second Varsity 8+ (2V8+) Grand Finals to place first in the team standings with 51 points. Bates finished as the team runner-up with 50 points. WPI was third overall with 48 points on the strength of their first overall finish in the Varsity 8+ race.
Wellesley is now one of only four women's rowing programs to capture multiple NCAA Division III titles since 2002. Wellesley placed third at the 2019 NCAA DIII Championships after finishing as the runner-up in 2018. The Blue did not compete in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic."
Middlebury's Stan Morris and Tufts' Elle Christensen won the singles titles at the Division III men's and women's individual tennis championships in Orlando.
It was a grand day for the Tufts' first-year, as she teamed with junior Tilly Rigby and took the NCAA Division III doubles title by downing Williams' Erica Ekstrand and Yuu Ishikawa, 6-1, 6-3. It's the first time since 2017 that the singles and doubles national champions came from the same school.
Case Western Reserve University junior James Hopper and graduate student Jonathan Powell bested Emory University's Andrew Esses and Nolan Shah in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1, to claim the men's doubles title.
The opening games for the DIII championship finals are set - Marietta vs. Catholic; Salisbury vs. UW-Stevens Point; Eastern Connecticut vs. Baldwin Wallace; and La Grange vs. Trinity (Texas).
Elite 90
Congratulations to these NCAA Elite 90 award winners - Katherine Pawlak, WPI, and Ryan Beard, Westminster, Pa. (Track and Field); Dylan Bruno, RIT and Katie Fullowan, Gettysburg (lacrosse); Lindsey Ambrosino, WPI (softball); and Ashley Schuliger, WPI (women's rowing).
In Memoriam
Our condolences to the family and friends of Washington University basketball standout Justin Hardy, who succumbed to cancer last weekend. If you aren't familiar with his story, you can watch here.
Happy Birthday
Cake and candles to Paul Morgan, associate AD at Norwich.
Do you know of someone celebrating an upcoming birthday? Drop us a line at D3Playbook@gmail.com.
The Warriors and the Thunder are tied in the sixth inning and are scheduled to resume Friday morning.
Friday Schedule WPI vs. Texas Lutheran, 11 a.m. (elimination game) Millikin vs. Eastern Connecticut/Trine, 1:30 p.m. (elimination game) Christopher Newport vs. Berry, 4:30 p.m. Salisbury vs. ECSU/Trine, 7 p.m.
BASEBALL
2. Super Regional Weekend
Ryan Enos, Oswego State
We're down to 16 teams vying for a spot in the DIII baseball finals, scheduled for June 3-8 at Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The best-of-three super regionals begin today with eight matchups.
No. 15 Trinity, Texas (35-11) at No. 3 Birmingham-Southern (41-8)
TU: MJ Metz has a 385-12-55 line with 21 steals
BSC: Ian Hancock has an OPS of 1.178 with 16 bombs and 58 RBI
No. 10 Rowan (33-8) at No. 1 Eastern Connecticut (42-3)
ROW: Eli Ativa is 8-0 with a 1.85 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP
ECSU: Luke Broadhurst has a 431-11-45 line with a 1.359 OPS
No. 21 Baldwin Wallace (35-11) at No. 19 Endicott (40-8)
BW: Luke Vonderhaar has a 356-18-67 line and a 1.193 OPS
EC: Gabe Van Emon is 8-0 with 83 strikeouts in 65.2 innings
Catholic (32-13) at Ithaca (33-12)
CUA: Tucker Alch is 10-2 with 114 K's in 86.1 IP (11.88/9)
IC: Buzz Shirley is hitting 424 with an OBP of 545
No. 17 Chapman (34-12) at No. 4 La Grange (40-6)
CU: Grant Manning is 8-1 with a 2.82 ERA and 113 K's
LC: Joe Ruth has a 454-10-81 line and a 1.189 OPS
No. 16 Oswego State (33-11) at No. 2 Marietta (41-5)
OSW: Ryan Enos has a 456-10-58 line with an OPS of 1.345
MC: Sam Mathews is 5-0 with a 1.33 ERA, a 0.69 WHIP and 13 saves
Wooster (34-15) at No. 7 Salisbury (34-9)
WOO: Tyler Chumita has 80 RBI and a 383 average
SU: Kavi Caster has a 420-11-57 line with 29 stolen bases
No. 12 UW-Stevens Point (38-8) at No. 9 UW-Whitewater (36-9)
UWSP: Aaron Simmons has a 375-20-60 line and a 1.282 OPS
UWW: Kade Lancour is 9-0 with a 2.65 ERA and 81 K's in 78 IP
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The opening day of the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field championships saw two meet records fall by the wayside.
In the men's long jump, MIT's Kenneth Wei set a DIII championship meet record with a leap of 7.88m on his final attempt, breaking the 48-year-old record of 7.82.
In the men's 200 prelims, Centre's JP Vaught set an all-divisions, all-conditions record with a wind-aided 20.64. Ramapo's Cheickna Traore set the DIII championship with a 20.73 under official conditions.
Thursday Finals 10,000 (W): Ari Marks, Wellesley, 34:50.55 10,000 (M): Alex Philip, John Carroll, 30:02.53 Discus (M): Steven Hermsen, Carroll, 54.93m Discus (W): Skye Digman, UW-La Crosse, 48.03m Pole Vault (W): Emma Rudolph, Westminster, Pa., 3.95m Long Jump (M): Kenneth Wei, MIT, 7.88m Long Jump (W): Victoria Kadiri, Johns Hopkins, 6.03m Javelin (W): Ava Nelson, Pacific Lutheran, 45.94m Javelin (M): Marcus Weaver, UW-Eau Claire, 67.00m
The Division III men's and women's singles and doubles championships get underway this morning in Orlando.
For the men, Chicago's Christian Alshon is the top singles seed, while Alshon and teammate Derek Hsieh are seeded first in doubles.
On the women's side, the Maroons' Sylwia Mikos is seeded No. 1 in singles and the Claremont-M-S team of Nikolina Batoshvili and Alisha Chulani are the top doubles seed.
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Penn State Abington IF Ryan McCarty was nominated for the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award. McCarty leads Division III in average (.529), hits (100), doubles (27), home runs (29), runs (89), RBI (91), total bases (220) and slugging percentage (1.164). He became just the second player in D-III history to record 100-plus hits in a single season doing so in just 44 games. McCarty’s 29 home runs are the most among all three divisions and his 89 runs tied the D-III single season record.
Rowing
The DIII women's championship begins today in Sarasota, Fla. The eight-team championship runs through Saturday. Each team is required to field two boats of eight rowers and a coxswain.
Happy Birthday
Cake and candles to Katie Burkowski, FAR at St. John Fisher; Todd Gibson, AD at Grove City; Katie Kuhn, head volleyball coach at Ohio Northern (Sat.); Sharon Dingman, head volleyball coach at Colorado College (Mon); and MK Geratowski, assistant AD at Randolph-Macon (Mon.)
TRANSACTIONS
6. Comings and Goings
BOWDOIN - Jamie Dumontresigned as head men's ice hockey coach
"When Christian Alshon stepped to the service line up 5-3, 40-love in the third set on Wednesday afternoon, history was resting on his racket. On his very next serve, the University of Chicago junior pummeled an ace straight down the T.
That clinching point set off a raucous celebration on the courts as the UChicago men's tennis team defeated Case Western Reserve University 5-2 in the NCAA Division III Championship title match. The Maroon men became the first team to win an NCAA Division III national championship in school history.
The No. 1-ranked Maroons capped their historic season on a 15-match winning streak, finishing with a 22-1 overall record. The 22 victories broke the previous program record of 20 wins set in 2019."
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TENNIS (W)
2. Athenas At The Summit
The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's tennis team led 2-1 after doubles, won the first set on all six singles courts, and went on to capture a 5-1 win over No. 1 Chicago to earn the 2022 NCAA Division III National Championship on Wednesday afternoon at the USTA National Campus in Orlando.
With the win, CMS finishes its season with a 27-3 record and a national title, coming a long way since its fourth-place finish at the ITA Indoor Tournament, where it suffered two of its losses. At nationals, the Athenas rolled to wins over two teams that had not lost to a Division III team all year, beating 23-0 Wesleyan in the semifinals 5-0, and then taking down 22-1 Chicago in the finals, which suffered only a loss to Division I Eastern Michigan prior to the national finals.
Ella Brissett picked up the clincher at No. 4 singles, with a 6-4, 6-3 win, although she and Audrey Yoon both had match points on adjacent courts at the same time trying to close out the championship.
The NCAA Division III women's lacrosse semifinals and final are slated for this weekend in Salem, Va. on the campus of Roanoke College. Here is a look at the matchups.
No. 2 Middlebury vs. No. 4 Gettysburg, 12 p.m.
Middlebury Panthers (20-1) Postseason Record: 68-18 NCAA Titles (7); 1997-99-2001-02-04-06-19 Trips to the Final Four (21): 1994-95-96-97-98-99-2000-01-02-03-04-05-06-07-12-13-15-18-19-22 Scoring Offense / Defense: 15.90 / 5.95 Top Goal Scorer: Jane Earley 72 Top Assister: Lily Riseberg 45 Top Defender: Erica Barr Top Goalkeeper: Annie Enrietto 6.18 GAA, 54.4 save% Statistics
Gettysburg Bullets (19-3) Postseason Record: 40-16 NCAA Titles (3): 2011-17-18 Trips to the Final Four (8): 2006-07-09-10-11-17-18-22 Scoring Offense / Defense: 15.1 / 12.4 Top Goal Scorer: Jordan Basso 65 Top Assister: Jenna King 42 Top Defender: Nora Janzer Top Goalkeeper: Gill Cortese 7.78 GAA, 46.0 save% Statistics
No. 3 Tufts vs. No. 7 TCNJ, 3 p.m.
Tufts Jumbos (18-3)
Postseason Record: 15-6 Best NCAA Finish: 2nd (2021) Trips to the Final Four (3): 2019-21-22 Scoring Offense / Defense: 14.90 / 7.25 Top Goal Scorer: Margie Carden 61 Top Assister: Mae Briody 21 Top Defender: Madison Lehan Top Goalkeeper: Molly Laliberty 7.92 GAA, 54.4 save% Statistics
TCNJ Lions (18-2) Postseason Record: 87-23 NCAA Titles (12): 1985-87-88-91-93-94-95-96-98-2000-05-06 Trips to the Final Four (26): 1985-86-87-88-89-90-91-92-93-94-95-96-97-98-99-2000-01-02-04-05-06-08-11-17-18-22 Scoring Offense / Defense: 17.35 / 7.00 Top Goal Scorer: Ally Tobler 84 Top Assister: Jennifer LaRocca 75 Top Defender: Wayden Ay Top Goalkeeper: Julia Charest 7.35 GAA, 46.8 save% Statistics
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It will be an All-Liberty League final in the NCAA Division III men's lacrosse tournament as RIT takes on Union on Sunday in East Hartford, Conn.
No. 2 RIT vs. No. 8 Union, 1 p.m.
RIT (21-1) Postseason Record: 37-21 NCAA Titles (1): 2021 Trips to the Final Four (12): 1984-85-87-99-2011-13-14-15-17-18-21-22 Scoring Offense / Defense: 18.1 / 8.8 Top Goal Scorer: Luke Pilcher 65 Top Assister: Marley Angus 28 Top Defender: Taylor Jensen Top Goalkeeper: Drew Hutchison 8.19 GAA, 58.9 save% Statistics
Union (18-2) Postseason Record: 11-5 Best NCAA Finish: Quarterfinals (2012-14) Trips to the Final Four (1): 2022 Scoring Offense / Defense: 14.75 / 9.15 Top Goal Scorer: Peter Burnes 59 Top Assister: Hayden Frey 28 Top Defender: Matt Belluche Top Goalkeeper: Dan Donahue 9.36 GAA, 57.4 save% Statistics
SOFTBALL
5. All-Americans
Anna Jackson, Berry
The National Fastpitch Coaches Association revealed the 54 players voted to the 2022 NFCA Division III All-America teams. This year’s three squads are comprised of student-athletes from 36 different programs representing 10 regions.
Eastern Connecticut State University leads all schools with four players selected, including three on the first team. Four others —Belhaven, Christopher Newport, East Texas Baptist and Salisbury — had three players chosen.
First Team P-Ashlyn Strother, Texas Lutheran P-Kayla Simacek, Bethel P-Gina Followell, Concordia, Wis. C-Anna Jackson, Berry 1B-Brooke Matyasovsky, Eastern Connecticut 2B-Courtney White, East Texas Baptist 3B-Julia SanGiovanni, Eastern Connecticut SS-Collette Allen, Redlands OF-Abby Mace, Salisbury OF-Katie Phillips, Linfield OF-Grace Heath, Mount Union UT/P - Lindsey Windsor, Salisbury DP/UT - Ella Link, Wartburg At-Large C - Giselle Bahena, Hiram 2B - Eliza Filus, Kean 1B - Kaitlyn Hasty, Christopher Newport P - Alexis Michon, Eastern Connectixut OF - Gabby Spencer, Saint Benedict
The Division III championship meet begins today in Geneva, Ohio. Here is the link to follow along.
The USTFCCCA announced its four-member class to the NCAA Division III Track and Field Athlete Hall of Fame. Congrats to Terry Anders of UW-Stout, Peter Kosgei of Hamilton, Christina Schwerin of Moravian and Marcia Taddy of UW-Platteville.
Tennis
The Division III individual singles and doubles championships begin today in Orlando, Fla. Here are the brackets - men | women
Happy Birthday
Cake and candles to Sabrina Slagle, tennis player at Westminster (Pa.); Grace Gunneson, head women's lacrosse coach at MSOE; Tom Noonan, assistant men's basketball coach at Millikin; and Ayanna Tweedy, athletic director at Rose-Hulman.