Last season, the Wisconsin-River Falls women’s hockey team earned its first NCAA Division III championship with a victory on home ice.
The Falcons, who have 21 Minnesotans on their roster, will try to repeat the accomplishment this weekend at River Falls’ Hunt Arena.
In Friday’s semifinals, the Falcons (24-3-2) will take on MIAC champion Augsburg (24-3-1), and Amherst (22-5-1) will play Middlebury (20-6-1). The semifinal winners will meet on Sunday in the championship game.
The Falcons and Augsburg are meeting for the second time this season. The teams played to a 4-4 tie on Nov. 8 in River Falls.
The Falcons led D-III in scoring this season with 178 goals (6.1 per game) and have four of the nine D-III players who scored at least 20 goals this season. Bailey Olson, a senior from Willmar, has 26 goals (second in D-III) and Megan Goodreau, a junior from Centennial, has 23 goals. Katherine Bell, a junior from St. Cloud, and Madison Kadrlik, a sophomore from Farmington, have each contributed 21 goals.
Augsburg is making its first appearance in the national semifinals. In 2000, the Auggies advanced to the inaugural D-III tournament — the American Women’s College Hockey Alliance finals in Boston.
The Auggies have been led by Nora Stepan, a junior from Apple Valley who has 28 points (16 goals and 12 assists), and Emily Cronkhite, a senior from Eagan who has 24 points (10 goals and 14 assists).
Cronkhite has surpassed 100 points for her career and is only the third player in program history to reach the mark. She is fourth in program history in goals scored (50) and assists (51).
