Wisconsin-River Falls will shoot for its third straight NCAA Division III championship with a bye to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.
The Falcons, champions of the WIAC, are one of 13 teams that make up this year’s D-III women’s tournament field, announced on Sunday night. Two other teams were awarded first-round byes and will host quarterfinal games — Little East champion Norwich (Vt.) and UCHC runners up Nazareth (N.Y.).
In addition to Norwich, automatic qualifiers included CNE champ Endicott (Mass.), MAC champ Wilkes (Pa.), MIAC champ Saint Benedict; NESCAC champion Amherst (Mass.); SUNYAC champ Plattsburgh State (N.Y.); UCHC champ Elmira (N.Y.) and WNCHA champ Adrian (Mich.).
NCAA tournament: See the bracket here
In addition to UW-River Falls and Nazareth, at-large bids went to Hamline (Minn.) and Ausburg (Minn.) of the MIAC, and Williams (Mass.) of NESCAC.
The first round will be played Saturday and will feature five matchups — Plattsburgh State at Williams, Saint Benedict at Amherst, Elmira at Ausburg, Endicott at Hamline and Adrian at Wilkes.
Quarterfinals will be March 21 and the D-III Women’s Frozen Four will be March 27-29 at a yet-to-be-determined site.