We are down to four.
After four quarterfinal games last weekend in the NCAA Division III women’s national tournament, the remaining teams are Wisconsin-River Falls, Plattsburgh, Middlebury, and Elmira.
Starting off last Friday, River Falls topped St. Thomas 4-1 behind two goals and an assist from Haley Nielsen and a goal plus a helper from Paige Johnson.
Chloe Kinsel also scored for the Falcons and Dani Sibley contributed two assists as Angie Hall made 30 saves in goal. Hall’s lone blemish was a Hannah Bird goal midway through the second period, a goal that at the time had knotted the game at 1-all.
St. Thomas goalie Mackenzie Torpy finished with 18 saves.
Saturday’s trio of games saw two shutouts and arguably, an upset.
Camille Leonard made 25 saves as defending champion Plattsburgh romped Amherst 5-0. Kayla Meneghin, Melissa Sheeran, and Mackenzie Millen all posted a goal and an assist, with Melissa Ames and Bridget Balisy adding a goal each. Katelyn Turk and Erin Brand both notched two assists.
Amherst’s Sabrina Dobbins made 35 stops in net.
Julie Neuburger fashioned a 13-save shutout in Middlebury’s 4-0 win over Massachusetts-Boston.
Maddie Winslow had two goals and an assist, while Janka Hlinka popped a goal with a helper and Elizabeth Wulf added the other goal. Julia Wardwell registered a pair of assists.
For Mass.-Boston, goaltender Rachel Myette made 26 saves.
In what some may see as the upset, Elmira took a 3-1 win over Adrian on the road.
Katie Granato’s power-play goal early in the third period gave the Soaring Eagles a 2-1 lead and Johanna Eidensten’s empty-net goal sealed it in the final minute.
Maddie Evangelous also scored for Elmira and Kyle Nelson stopped 29 shots.
Jade Walsh made 18 saves for Adrian, whose only goal came from Sydney Smith on an early third period power play.
The semifinals and finals will be played next weekend at a location to be determined. Friday night, River Falls plays Elmira and Plattsburgh tangles with Middlebury.
The third-place game will then be Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. EDT with the national title game that evening at 7 p.m. EDT.
