2009 Women's Division III NCAA Tournament

The 2009 Women's Division III NCAA Tournament will take place March 14 through March 22, 2009.

The participants are:


 * 1) Middlebury Panthers
 * 2) Elmira Soaring Eagles
 * 3) Gustavus Adolphus Golden Gusties
 * 4) Wisconsin-River Falls Falcons
 * 5) Amherst Lady Jeffs
 * 6) Plattsburgh Cardinals
 * 7) Norwich Cadets

Middlebury is the NESCAC champion. Elmira is the ECAC West champion. Gustavus Adolphus is the MIAC champion. Norwich is the ECAC East champion. Wisconsin-River Falls, the NCHA champion, received the Pool B bid for teams without an automatic qualifier. Amherst (NESCAC) and Plattsburgh (ECAC West) received at-large Pool C bids.

The Adrian Bulldogs (independent) and RIT Tigers (ECAC West) were left out despite excellent seasons.

Note that the seedings above are primarily geographic, to reduce travel costs, rather than being seeded by on-ice criteria; for example, it's likely that Middlebury, nominally the number 1 seed, would have been left out of the tournament entirely had they not won the NESCAC tournament. Instead, they were chosen to host the tournament and thereby were named the top seed.

Quarterfinals
The quarterfinal games will be played on March 14 at the home of the higher seed. Middlebury, as host of the Frozen Four, receives a bye into the semifinals.

Wisconsin-River Falls at Gustavus Adolphus
Gustavus Adolphus was the consensus #1 in the polls for most of the latter half of the season, raising hopes of hosting the Frozen Four, but the Gusties ended up losing on home ice to Wisconsin-River Falls before even getting to the Frozen Four.

Norwich at Elmira
Elmira went 3-for-8 on the power play.

Semifinals
The semifinal and final rounds will be held at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. The semifinals will be held on Saturday, March 21.

Final
The semifinal winners will play in the final on Sunday, March 22.

2009 NCAA Tournament Links

 * 2009 Men's Division III NCAA Tournament