Forgive me for saying this but … it’s kinda chic to be an Oredigger these days. The team from Colorado has been a force in Women’s Division III the last two seasons, falling just short of a XV’s National Championship win in 2024 before winning a CRC 7s title the following Spring and going all the way in the Fall of 2025.
That run has coincided with the emergence of All-American and last year’s DIII Player of the Year “Primetime” Piper Lee, who has the athleticism and the drive to do pretty much anything she wants out on the pitch. It is by no means a one-player operation that they’re running at School of Mines, however, as Lee has been supported by teammates like destructive flanker McKenzie Williams and big-time scorer Ayanna Mejorado. The team also boasts a pair of rising stars in hooker Madeline Snodgrass and winger Kate Osborne, both of whom earned All-American nods in their first year with the program – signalling that the championship window for this team might just be opening.
There was one huge loss for the Orediggers this offseason, however, as they graduated dynamic flyhalf Aliya Lynn. The senior served not only as an excellent field general and catalyst for the offense, but also as the team’s emotional engine with her infectious positivity and nearly boundless energy. The team may eventually be able to replace Lynn’s production on the pitch but it’ll be much harder to do so in the locker room, with much of that burden falling on a pair of shoulders exposed by the rolled up sleeves on the jersey of Piper Lee.
The #2 ranked Endicott Gulls were working on a dynasty of their own under head coach Carly Baker, before they were so rudely interrupted by the rise of Mines. Two National Championship trophies and a runner-up finish in four years is certainly impressive, and the Gulls seem poised to contend with Mines once again this December to decide the best-of-three championship series.
Despite questions of whether Endicott could sustain the success it was accustomed to following the graduation of superstar Tess Merrill heading into the 2025 season, the Gulls never even had their feathers ruffled until the last game of their season. They handled conference foes Yale in both the regular season and the NACR Conference Championship game – with the Yalies being a team that some too-smart-for-their-own-good pundits had picked to upset the Gulls at every turn. They then beat Colby (#4) and East Stroudsburg (#3) easily on their way to a second consecutive championship game appearance.
All-American Chloe Marconi was a key part of the 2025 squad but, unfortunately for the Gulls, has now graduated. They have also lost the underrated contributions off the tee of senior Caitlin Padeck, who hit 12 conversions throughout the playoffs. The team will, however, return All-Americans Marin Shaffer, an excellent ball carrier at the no. 8 spot, Colleen Mitchell, an explosive winger who went pretty much score for score with CSOM’s Osborne in the Final and ended her postseason campaign with a whopping total of 9 tries, and Laryssa Landmesser, whose powerful running style and veteran leadership is certainly a boon.
Slotting in at #3 is East Stroudsburg, a gritty side that loves nothing more than to steamroll its opponents. Outside of the aforementioned loss to Endicott, the Warriors boasted playoff scorelines of 140-0, 48-12, and 50-10 thanks in large part to its dynamic backline duo of Ashlynn Mugavero and Tara Bogansky – both of whom are back with the team in 2026. Mugavero had 10 tries and 9 conversions in the playoffs last Fall while Bogansky had 9 tries and 14 conversions, making up by far the bulk of the team’s scoring output. Fullback Bethany Weise is also a scoring threat and, together, the three players should be a nightmare for opponents to handle this season.
The Warriors will miss the formidable presence of All-American Julie Nilsen in the front row, but rising junior Na’Zyia Taylor should be able to help with that transition, along with second row Lauren Wehr.
Leila Gerry and Mira Gardner are the names to know for the #4 team on our list, Colby College. The Mules from Waterville, Maine were an incredibly young team in 2025, starting just five upperclassmen in the Regional round of the playoffs. But Gerry and Gardner were standouts for Colby during that stretch and should continue to lead this team’s development along with other rising talents like Elizabeth Chapman. Colby finished fourth in the country at the CRC’s in the Spring, indicating that the Mules’ arrow is pointing up.
A team from Wisconsin rounds out our top 5, but it’s not the one you might think. While UW-Platteville has long been a fixture at the top of the DIII rankings, in 2026 it’s UW-Steven’s Point getting some shine after an eye-opening 2025 campaign. The Pointers put themselves on the map nationally with a huge upset of Wayne State in the first round of Regionals before falling to Colorado School of Mines by a pretty respectable margin of 38-7. The team has lost all three members of its starting front row from the Regional round, but will be bringing back scrummy Grace Ferrell and inside center Olivia Yoerger, who carried much of the team’s scoring load. UWSP plays a daunting schedule each year in the Great Waters conference, routinely testing themselves against DII powerhouse Wisconsin-Eau Claire. But the regular season adversity seems to prepare the Pointers well to face the level of competition present at every step of the way of the national playoff pathway, making them a nightmare first-round matchup for any other playoff hopeful.
Siena kicks off the back half of our top-ten list, but are strong candidates to rise pretty quickly through the ranks as the season progresses. The Saints return an incredibly strong core group of players led by All-Americans Tallulah Powers and Olivia McQuhae – the first-year phenom who had 7 tries during Siena’s surprise run to the Final Four in Houston. The loss of Swiss Army Knife Gabriella Jimenez (from the wonderful town of Rutherford, NJ) will be a tough pill for the Saints to swallow, but the team has plenty of young talent waiting in the wings that should develop quickly in the capable hands of head coach Greg Matthew.
#7 SUNY Cortland might call themselves the Peace Frogs but they have no problem battling it out on the pitch, led by scrumhalf Grace Loretto. Cortland has some big shoes to fill after losing Emily Russo and Erin Anderson to graduation, but there seems to still be plenty of fight left in the team from Upstate New York.
Rounding out the list is #8 Northern Michigan – who slugged it out with Siena in the Regional Final last season but are losing Ella Ericksen, who had 11 of the team’s 17 tries during that campaign – and #9 Wayne State – who have lost All-American center Mary McCulsky and flyhalf Shae Wiederien but retained a rising star in center Genevieve Sovereign, along with her sister, Jillian Sovereign.
The list ends with #10 Middlebury, another incredibly young team in 2025 that hopes another year of experience will lead to growth and, potentially, a deeper run in postseason play.
Written by Zach Lanning
