MARCH 22, 2025 | composed by STEVE ULRICH

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🎉 Here We Go Monday, Here We Go. Congrats to Trinity, NYU, Denison and MIT!

Headlines
🏀 Bantams Beat NYU For Crown
🏀 Twice As Nice For NYU
🏊‍♂️ Big Red Back on Top
🏊‍♀️ Engineering a Championship
🏒 Semifinals Are Set
⚡️ Lightning Round

🎶 Your Morning Pick-Me-Up. Don’t You (Forget About Me). Simple Minds. Breakfast Club, anyone?

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TOP STORY
1. Bantams Beat NYU For Crown

by Patrick Coleman, D3sports.com

“"I think on any given night, it could be just a three minute stretch where someone's really good."

That was Will Dorion's reaction after the 2025 Division III men's basketball national title game, a contest in which Dorion had his few minutes, and Drew Lazarre had a few. Jarrel Okorougo had more than a few.

And Henry Vetter had the last few.

The last few minutes of the 2025 title game will be long remembered for Vetter's finish. The Trinity Bantams’ junior guard was 2-for-10 in the first 36 minutes of the game, but he hit three big shots down the stretch, plus a free throw, to help his team rally from a 55-50 deficit. And that included the game-winning three-pointer with 10 seconds remaining, as Trinity (Conn.) came away with Walnut and Bronze, defeating New York University 64-60 for the 2025 national title.”

» Of Note. “As much attention as the offense gets, it's the defense that has always driven this Trinity team. If they miss a shot, the response is that they have to buckle back down on defense. And the Bantams missed 40 shots on Saturday, including going just 5-for-26 from three-point range. But the defense was solid. NYU did not score a single second-chance point. NYU got just six points off of turnovers. And they scored just 60 points a season-low.”

» Continue Reading

BASKETBALL (W)
2. Twice As Nice For NYU

by Riley Zayas, D3sports.com

“NYU made its statement in the 2025 NCAA Division III women's basketball national championhip game’s first three minutes, a sending message nobody inside the Cregger Center on Saturday afternoon could overlook. They played with a sense of freedom that gave way to an unmistakable rhythm from the jump. Their connectivity was near-perfect, whether trapping a Smith ball-handler on the defensive end, or sprinting down the court and whipping passes between each other en route to a fast-break layup.

NYU scored on its first seven possessions on the path to a commanding 15-5 lead by the 6:07 mark, and never took one glance back, claiming the program’s second-straight national title in a 77-49 victory over Smith. NYU became one of four programs in D-III women’s basketball history to win consecutive national titles, with the last being Amherst in 2018."

» Worth Noting. “The last time a team won by at least 20 was in 2018, when Amherst took down Bowdoin, 65-45. NYU’s margin of victory on Saturday was the largest in championship game history since Nancy Fahey’s WashU squad rolled past Southern Maine, 79-33, in 2000.”

» Quotable. "“We just have a good group of winners,” Belle Pellecchia, who averaged 16.5 points per game in six victories in the tournament, noted. “When you see your upperclassmen, your teammates, your close friends putting in the work, you want to do that too. I think that’s how we started this journey, and we just wanted to continue that. It was sort of like, ‘Why not? Why not make it two? Why be satisfied with one?’”

» Read More

SWIMMING (M)
3. Big Red Back On Top

Denison won its sixth NCAA Division III men’s swimming and diving championship and first since 2019 with a convincing 463.50-point performance in Greensboro, N.C.

Four national records were shattered over the four-day weekend: Bates’ Max Cory in the 100 free (42.88); Chicago’s Cooper Costello in the 100 free (45.97); Conn College’s Justin Finkel in the 200 fly (1:42.64); and the Chicago 800 free relay (6:26.98).

» Friday-Saturday Finals. 200 MR: Tufts, 1:26.72; 200 Fly: Justin Finkel (Conn College), 1:42.64 (DIII record); 100 Back: Brayden Morford (Carnegie Mellon), 46.61; 100 Breast: Henri Bonnault (Emory), 52.61; 1-Meter Diving: Trent Makowiec (Geneseo) 528.70; 800 FR: Chicago, 6:26.98 (DIII record); 1650 Free: Lucas Lang (CMS), 15:18.01; 100 Free: Max Cory (Bates), 42.88 (DIII record); 200 Back: Kyle Wolford (WashU), 1:44.15; 200 Breast: Liyang Sun (Emory), 1:56.64; 400 FR: Chicago, 2:54.20.

» Team Scoring. 1-Denison 463.50; 2-Emory 323.50; 3-Chicago 272; 4-New York U. 267.50; 5-Kenyon 250.

» Championship Hub

SWIMMING (W)
4. Engineering A Championship

The MIT women overcame a 20-point deficit entering the final day of competition to win the program’s first NCAA Division III women’s swimming and diving championship. The Engineers edged NYU, 497-470, including a win in the final race of the meet over the Violets.

Eight NCAA DIII marks fell by the wayside during the four-day championship, including three from NYU standout Kaley McIntyre. She set records in the 50 free (22.15) and 100 free (48.53), as well as swimming a leg of the 800 free relay (7:13.12). New standards were also set by Ithaca’s Kailee Payne in the 3-meter diving competition (522.80); MIT’s Kate Augustyn in the 100 back (53.41); Williams’ Sophia Verkleeren in the 400 IM (4:11.23) and the 200 medley (1:39.51) and 200 free (1:30.00) relays by MIT.

» Friday-Saturday Finals. 200 MR: MIT, 1:39.51 (DIII record); 200 Fly: Nicole Ranile (NYU), 1:57.72; 100 Back: Kate Augustyn (MIT), 53.41 (DIII record); 100 Breast: Jennah Fadely (Kenyon), 1:00.13; 800 FR: NYU, 7:13.02 (DIII record); 1650 Free: Natalie Garre (Bowdoin), 16:17.84 (DIII record); 100 Free: Kaley McIntyre (NYU), 48.53 (DIII record); 200 Back: Augustyn, 1:55.85; 200 Breast: Fadely, 2:11.22; 3-Meter Diving: Kailee Payne (Ithaca), 522.80 (DIII record); 400 FR: MIT, 3:19.03.

» Team Scoring. 1-MIT, 497; 2-New York U., 470; 3-Kenyon, 438; 4-Denison, 370.50; 5-Emory, 337.

» Elite 90. Case Western Reserve’s Abigail Wilkov and Rose-Hulman’s Vineet Ranade were named the recipients of the Elite 90 awards.

» Championship Hub

ICE HOCKEY
5. Semifinals Are Set

The DIII quarterfinal round was nearly chalk as seven of the top eight seeds advanced to the frozen four. Only the #6 Utica men went against seed, using home-ice advantage to take out St. Norbert.

The national semifinals are set for Thursday with the Hobart men looking for a “three-peat” and the Wisconsin-River Falls women in search of a repeat. Utica will serve as host for the men’s semis and final, while UWRF will host the women’s games.

» Semifinals (M). #2 Hobart vs. #4 Geneseo, 3 p.m.; #1 Curry at #6 Utica, 7 p.m.

» Semifinals (W). #2 Amherst vs. #3 Middlebury, 4 p.m.; #1 Augsburg at #4 UW-River Falls, 8 p.m.

NEWS YOU CAN USE
6. Lightning Round ⚡️ 

🤺 Fencing (M). Haverford’s Eric Chen was named the Elite 90 Award winner.

⚾️ Baseball. Two teams twirled seven-inning no-hitters on Saturday as MIT shut down Bates, and Washington U. did the same to Maryville. Mason Estrada and Phillip Hood turned the trick for the Engineers, while Townsend Stevenson went the distance for his gem, walking two and fanning 12.

🥎 Softball. Morgan Harwood and Caitlin Hartsell combined on a no-hitter as UW-Stevens Point defeated U. of New England, 11-3. Harwood fanned 14 over 6 1/3 innings.

🥍 Lacrosse. Thiel’s Zach Melin scored a DIII season-high 10 goals in the Tomcats’ 25-9 win over La Roche. Mount Holyoke’s one-two combination of Emi Bisson and Juliana Spaulding were unstoppable in the Lyons’ 19-18 win at Emerson. Spaulding scored 10 goals, becoming the sixth female to hit double digits in a game this season, while Bisson handed out 13 assists - the highest single-game mark in 2025.

TRANSACTIONS
7. Comings and Goings

ADRIAN - Zach Altman named assistant men’s wrestling coach
CHAPMAN - TJ Perez named head women’s soccer coach
KENYON - Nicole Gardner named assistant director of athletics
MILLSAPS - Michael Prather resigned as head men’s basketball coach
RANDOLPH-MACON - Patrick Corbett named head women’s soccer coach
ST. JOHN FISHER - Brees Segala and Nolan Foley named assistant football coaches
SWARTHMORE - Landry Kosmalski resigned as head men’s basketball coach

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