Rowan, York and Denison Lift Conference Crowns on a Huge Division III Saturday
Division III finals day kept delivering long after the headline games were done.
Rowan are NJAC champions again, beating TCNJ 2-1 in the final. Mia Foti scored the game-winner, and it’s a sixth straight NJAC title for Rowan, their 12th overall. Six in a row in any conference is hard. In a league as competitive as the NJAC, it’s something else.
York (Pa.) took the MAC Commonwealth crown with a 2-1 win over Stevenson. Olivia Miller was named tournament MVP, and Kelsey Shahan scored the winner with 7:22 left. Late winners in finals are what players remember for years, and Shahan has just given herself one.
Denison won the NCAC title 4-1 over Ohio Wesleyan, scoring three times in the second half to pull away. It’s Denison’s third NCAC title in four seasons, and they take a 16-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament. That is the kind of form that makes the rest of the bracket take notice.
Three more champions, three more NCAA Tournament places booked. And there’s still one big one to come on Sunday: the NESCAC final between Tufts and Middlebury, two of the best programmes in the division.
For our money, Denison are the side to watch when the bracket comes out. Sixteen straight wins and a 4-1 final is a team peaking at exactly the right time.
