The seven regular-season Division III women’s conference champions are now official, as the season wrapped up Saturday.
Four conferences were already mathematically decided last week — Colonial Hockey (Stevenson), ECAC West (Plattsburgh), NEHC (Norwich) and WIAC (Wisconsin-River Falls).
That left us with just the MIAC, NCHA and NESCAC this past weekend.
Bethel wrapped up its first MIAC championship in program history with a sweep of Concordia (Minn.) over the weekend on two straight shutouts. The two schools entered the weekend tied for second in the standings.
Maggie Straka earned the shutout Saturday in a 5-0 win, while Michelle Klimstra did the honors in the 3-0 win Friday to open the series.
The Royals finish the MIAC regular season with a 12-4-2 record and 26 total points, the same as St. Thomas, who will be the No. 1 seed for the MIAC playoffs based on their series win over Bethel back in November. Bethel will be the No. 2 seed and will host Augsburg.
The marquee matchup over the weekend was in the NCHA, where Adrian swept Lake Forest to gain the conference title. Lake Forest entered the series with a two-point lead over the Bulldogs.
A second period short-handed goal by Logan Taylor proved to be the difference as the Bulldogs topped Lake Forest 2-1 on Saturday afternoon. Jade Walsh made 18 saves and Allie Carter stopped 44 for the Foresters. On Friday, Walsh stopped 24 in another 2-1 victory.
On the weekend, Adrian held the top scorer in all of D-III, Michelle Greeneway, pointless for just the third time in 25 games this season.
Middlebury captured the top seed in the NESCAC following a 7-0 win over Williams on Saturday night. The Panthers, who are the No. 1 seed for the sixth straight season, will be looking for their eighth conference title when quarterfinal action starts on Saturday.
Middlebury has won 12 of its last 13 games dating back to Jan. 15 and looks to win its first NESCAC title since 2012.
Look for full conference tournament previews coming later this week.
