In a jam-packed opening postseason weekend, 5 regions will decide their representatives at the D-III College Championships
April 9, 2026 by Zack Davis, Theresa Diffendal and TJ Lee in Preview
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There are few more exciting portions of the ultimate calendar than spring College Regionals. For some, these events will be the culmination of a season — or even college career — while for others it’s just another step on their path toward the D-III College Championships in just over a month. Count on plenty of dramatic action and unexpected results along the way as every team fights to ensure they fall into the latter group.
Unique amongst all other divisions, D-III Women’s will decide over half their representatives for Nationals in the postseason’s very first weekend; the rest will be decided in two weeks. With nine bids on the line across five regions, we’ve got you covered on the storylines to watch.
Atlantic Coast
Score Reporter
Location: Glen Allen, VA
Favorites: Richmond
Contenders: Davidson, Wake Forest, Catholic
Nationals Bids: 1
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥
While the Atlantic Coast might be the weakest region in terms of straight rankings, with Richmond Redhots finishing the season highest ranked at 30th, the only region not to have a team in the top 25, the battle for the lone bid should be fierce.
The Redhots are the most recent AC representative at Nationals, sweeping through this ConfRegional last year with a dominant 69-19 aggregate scoreline, never allowing more than five goals. Though Richmond graduated All-Region defensive anchor Arianna Kightlinger, Lucy Sevetson and Maggie McFerran form a dangerous slinger-scorer duo, and AC ROTY Kiera Linnane is back to do it all after a summer spent leveling up with a local club team. Don’t sleep on their junior class either, as attending Nationals every year they’ve been on the team has seasoned players like Catie Geraghty, Genesis Meadows, and Jolie Martin, now ready to step into bigger roles.
This Richmond team does have less experience than in years past, only attending a windy Cherry Blossom Classic where the Redhots went 1-4. The two closest challengers, Davidson and Wake Forest, both have more than double the games on their legs, but a close 8-6 loss to OV bid-earner Kenyon could show Richmond is in a league of its own. Richmond might find itself closer to a universe point game-to-go scenario than the 10-point stomping they gave Davidson last year, but make no mistake that the Redhots are the favorites.
Despite finishing over 100 points below Richmond in the final rankings, Davidson People’s DUFF claim the overall no.1 seed at AC ConfRegionals. And maybe it’s earned: People’s Duff enter the postseason having done their prep work, putting in games against bid-earners and contenders like St. Olaf and Oberlin while blowing out two teams. They also have the benefit of some of the most recent reps, playing Needle in a Ho Stack the last weekend of the regular season and finishing a few spots ahead of Wake Forest Ruckus. Vets like Ella Dittmer, Laura Hirt, and Virginia Barber bring youth and local club experience, which should make for exciting matchups when they go toe-to-toe with Richmond’s best.
But we’d be remiss not to mention two of the wildcard teams in the field: aforementioned Wake Forest, as well as Catholic Nun Betta. 2026 marks Wake Forest’s return to D-III, as they joined with a handful of other teams, including another AC ConfRegional attendee in William & Mary B, when the student enrollment limit was raised to 10,000 this year. They have had a turbulent season, finishing .500 with just one win against a fellow D-III team, but could be a threat in years to come with first year Leila Flummerfelt, who comes from the Winchester High School program that’s been a strong pipeline for Northeast teams like League of Shadows and Sprocket.
Ruckus enter the tournament seeded no.2, sharing a pool with Richmond and providing an early opportunity to position themselves as frontrunners for the bid. Winning that game should be priority number one for Wake Forest. If they don’t, they’ll likely face Davidson in semis, and Davidson owns the recent head-to-head matchups, including beating Ruckus 7-4 at Commonwealth Cup earlier this season.
But don’t forget: it wasn’t too long ago (2023, in fact) that Catholic were repping the AC at the College Championships, and two players – Elliana Arnold and Nina Consiglio – remain from that roster. Nun Betta played Richmond closest last year, the only team to hold the Redhots to fewer than twelve goals and losing by only five, so there’s certainly a chance for Catholic to prove there are none better in the region.
North Central
Score Reporter
Location: Northfield, MN
Favorites: #5 St. Olaf, #3 Carleton, #9 Macalester
Contenders: #16 Winona State
Nationals Bids: 3
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
The main problem with Nationals is that not everyone can make it. The tournament would be much better if any team with an interest could show up and play. Oh the 64th ranked team got blasted by the best team in the nation? There’s no precedent for that in college sports!
The #16 Winona State Bad Monaz are without a doubt one of the most interesting teams in the nation, in any division or skill level. They are a team with ten rostered players, and often play entire weekends with only seven, occasionally electing to play a point with only six players, simply to rest legs.What makes the Monaz interesting is that they often score in those situations. You’d be hard pressed to find a team with more chemistry in the nation. This is a team that by rights shouldn’t even exist, and have, over the course of their long history, played with fewer than two lines worth of players more often than not. Led by Greta Baumgartner, Julia Hahm, Kirstyn Sand, and Madelyn Brockberg, the Monaz have grinded their way to a no.4 seed, and a real chance to steal a bid. These are the heroes of the North Central, in front of them lay three Titans of D-III ultimate.
Titan one, and no.1 seed for the North Central, are #5 St. Olaf Vortex. They are led by the most eligible Char Batchelor, along with Rachel Katzovitz, and Sophia Stender. Each of these players is comfortable with making tough throws, and can rattle off razor sharp cuts. Vortex are also deep, with a lot of talent down to the 13-14 spot on the roster. They are happy to spread the disc around and allow role players to become leaders. They are happy to take a lot of deep looks, because they are both solid on defense, and willing to grind out opponents late into the game. They have had only one loss this season, a 6-5 game against D-I Arkansas at Midwest Throwdown.
Titan two and no.2 seed in the North Central are #3 Carleton College Eclipse. A blue chip program in every aspect, Eclipse is coming off an impressive ECI performance. The team is dynamic in their play and has a great foundation in the fundamentals. They are led by Maddy Brown, Molly Hortsman Olson, and Sadie Begtrup, three players that embody that very same dynamism and reliance on fundamentals. Similar to St. Olaf, Carleton is more than willing to go deep in their roster and grind down teams. Eclipse is a lot less eager to look deep, if only because they know they are more reliable than anyone else in the division in small ball situations.
Titan three, and no.3 seed, is the #9 Macalester Pursesnatchers. Nearly synonymous with the Pursesnatcher’s recent success is Claire Lee. Lee is without doubt the most electrifying player in the division right now. After posting a lovecraftian statline at 2024 Nationals Lee was unable to play last season due to injury. This year, she has returned, and led her team to a fairly successful season, falling just short of a tournament win at Old Capitol Open losing 8-7 to Kansas in the final.
All these teams should have a chance to play at Nationals, but unfortunately only three will make it.
Northwest
Score Reporter
Location:
Favorites: #7 Whitman, #15 Portland
Contenders: #17 Lewis & Clark, #22 Puget Sound
Nationals Bids: 2
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Whitman has put in the work this season, putting up strong results against regional rivals. I mentioned in the end of season blurb that the Sweets don’t have the results to be seen as a top contender yet, but they should be able to cruise through Regionals and focus on ramping up for Nationals. The Campbell sisters have been forces of nature that opponents struggle to keep up with, and with a dominant PACCon showing where the closest game the partial squad had was 13-6 wins over Nevada-Reno and Lewis & Clark, this team is ready to make another deep playoff run.
Portland enters the Series with redemption on their mind. Failing to defend their bid last year has lit a fire underneath them, as they have gone on to get wins over Lewis & Clark and D-I Oregon State, giving them the case to be the second best team in Oregon this year. Annalise Korch and Hayden Ashley have kept the team in bid-earning range, and they have a great chance to bounce back this year.
Good news for Lewis & Clark: they are one tournament away from getting back 2025 All-American First Team selection Amelie Steer back. The bad news: they still have to steal a bid first. This will be no easy task for the defending semifinalists, but if anyone knows how to play up to competition when it counts, it’s Artemis. Izzy Quattrucci, Anika Alschuler, and Presten Berg have been putting in the work in the WUL, and with second runner-up COTY Jacob Artz and Chris Beaulieu, don’t be surprised if they get it done
Puget Sound’s resume so far suggests they have what it takes to upset Lewis & Clark and make a game to go, but not necessarily punch up to Portland and Whitman to take a bid. But Hayes Freeman and Claire Bargman were in this position last year, and found a way to get it done. Make no mistake, this is one of the best Confregionals tournaments you want to watch.
South Central
Score Reporter
Location: Springfield, MO
Favorites: #12 Rice, #13 Colorado College
Contenders: Trinity
Nationals Bids: 2
Excitement Level: 🔥
Rice may not have ended the regular season with the strongest foot forward, but dominant wins over regional rivals Trinity and Colorado College set them up well to cruise through the weekend. Ria Stevens and company earned a top 10 ranking for a reason this year, and their ability to avoid playing down to competition should allow them plenty of time to focus on nationals development rather than surviving Confregionals.
There are many ways to bounce back after missing Nationals. You could save some offensive sets or defensive zones until now. You could open up lines and focus on development in the regular season, so your opponent doesn’t know what to expect. Or you could just go earn a bid yourself. Colorado College put in the work this season, and (somewhat) comfortably secured the last strength bid. Seeding for Nationals is important, so don’t be surprised if Kelsey Viadro, Zoe Posner, and the rest of this Zenith squad try punching up and winning the South Central. But as long as there isn’t a second spring break trip leaving the roster gutted, Colorado College should be able to hold off anyone else.
Trinity and Truman State were the only other teams to get 10 games in without Big Frisbee throwing out their results. While neither has proven to provide spoiler potential yet, all it takes is one good weekend from them or one bad weekend from a bid-earner to make things interesting.
Southwest
Score Reporter
Location: Bakersfield, CA
Favorites: #19 Santa Clara
Contenders: #22 Occidental, Claremont
Nationals Bids: 1
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Honestly, on paper this should be #19 Santa Clara Rage’s to lose. Santa Clara, who made the switch from D-I to D-III this year per the new student population cap of 10K, has a team with a lot of experience playing elite west coast programs at Regionals and consistently falling just short of a trip to Nationals. Santa Clara has for a long time been the prototypical mid-tier regionals team in D-I. Captains Nina Huaracayo, Lili Delaney, and Shea Mulqueeney are seasoned veterans with no small level of skill. Mulqueeney is consistent and precise. Huaracayo has a nose for the end zone, both with the disc in her hands and as a cutter. Delaney has seemingly endless energy and uses it to torment opposing cutters on defense. Rage has demonstrated plenty of success early in the season, losing three, and only one of those to a D-III team in the form of an 8-5 loss to Lewis & Clark.
But this region has belonged to the Claremont Greenshirts and Occidental WAC for a long time, and they are jealous owners. Both teams have a lot of games played, and even more players and neither are interested in letting the new kid on the block walk away with the bid.
For the Greenshirts, it’s been a season defined by tight games. They finish the regular season 8-11 in sanctioned play. After triumphantly making Nationals again last season for the first time since 2018 Claremont will be trying to leverage their depth and experience to return. Mattie Johnson and Nora Verner, who were instrumental to the team’s success last year, have returned.
As for Occidental they finished the season 10-10. Two of those losses were against Santa Clara, but that was two months ago, and the air corps have short memories. Lily Van Linder, Lisa Pesikoff, and Audrey AlQatami, who were all stand out players in the WAC’s last trip to Nationals in 2024 will be hungry for another chance to take their team to the big dance.
