The women's semifinal contests weren't as closely contested as I expected they'd be, but as Dave and Monica pointed out experience counts this time of year and the veterans of Final Four competition prevailed. Prior to the 2017 season Wesleyan had a 32-117 record in conference play. In 2009 Tufts won the only regular season NESCAC title not owned by either Middlebury or Trinity, but other than that campaign had never won more than 6 conference games before the 2018 season. Middlebury beat Salisbury earlier this season but as competitors over the past 15 seasons or so the Seagull have dominated the series. What happened in March means nothing tomorrow. Go Panthers!
Good luck to the Amherst men against Cabrini in tomorrow's championship game.
Something happened in this season's earlier tournament rounds that needs to be recognized for what it is, good news for the DIII women's game. The field of eight can still be penciled in before the season even begins but six unranked teams in this season's bracket showed they came to play and aren't just happy to be here. Illinois Wesleyan, out of the CCIW, ended their season with a 19-7 defeat at the hands of #5 Franklin & Marshall. Denison, from the NCAC, closed out their season losing to #1 Gettysburg 14-3. Denison played a killer out-of-conference schedule which included a 14-4 opening game loss to the Bullets. Only #2 Washington & Lee and #5 Franklin & Marshall held Gettysburg to under 15 tallies this season. Denison did it twice. Unheralded Misericordia, representing the MAC Freedom, lost their final game to #6 York by a 17-8 tally. Meredith, who also played a very tough non-conference schedule, lost 13-10 at the hands of #20 Ithaca. Mount Union lost to #10 Catholic by a 16-6 margin. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps fell to #12 Amherst 14-8 and stayed close well into the second half. Then there's Colorado College, who earned a #19 ranking in the final poll of the regular season. They were defeated 18-8 by #7 Salisbury. The Tigers tend to get more respect in the rankings than other teams west of the Allegheny's. They've had some past success in tournament play. In 2005 they lost to Salisbury 15-11 in the semifinals. They seemed to regress for a few seasons beginning in 2008, playing a less competitive schedule, but have been making the effort to return to form lately. These teams should continue to improve over the next few years and hopefully inspire some in-conference rivals to do the same.
Best of luck to Middlebury and Amherst tomorrow.
