The winter tournament season is heating up in college athletics, and Wildcat alums in multiple sports are still vying for championship glory.
Four women’s hockey players are competing in either the Division I or D-III tournaments, while four men’s basketball players are also in the D-I or D-III fields.
Basketball
In basketball, Preston Edmead ’25 and his Hofstra team are in the Division I tournament. Edmead’s Pride won their Coastal Athletic Association tournament to make the NCAAs as a No. 13 seed, and Edmead was leading the way as he earned CAA Tournament MVP honors. The individual award is the latest for Edmead after a stellar rookie campaign, as he was named the CAA Rookie of the Year in the regular season and made the CAA All-Rookie team.
Edmead and the Pride will take on No. 4 Alabama in the Midwest Region on Friday at 3:15 p.m. ET. The game will be on truTV and streaming online.
Edmead’s classmate and teammate from Williston, Ricardo Nieves ’25, is facing off with two other Wildcat alums in the Division III tournament in Paul Ippolito ’23 and Weston Reardon ’24. Ippolito and Reardon play for Trinity, the top-ranked team in their section of the bracket, while Nieves plays for Tufts. The teams will clash in the Elite 8 on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
Nieves came up big to send Tufts to the Elite 8. In the Sweet 16 against NESCAC rival Wesleyan, Nieves scored a game-high 21 points to go along with six rebounds and two steals.
Hockey
Jules Constantinople ’22 is two wins away from an NCAA hockey championship. Her Northeastern hockey program is in the Division I Frozen Four that starts this weekend. The fifth-seeded Huskies will take on No. 1 Ohio State on Friday at 4 p.m. for a chance at the championship game. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
A defender for Northeastern, Constantinople has seven goals and 17 assists on the season so far.
In the Division III field, meanwhile, the Amherst College Mammoths have three Wildcats on the roster. Amherst won the NESCAC Tournament to advance to the NCAAs, and goalie Natalie Stott ’22 has been rock-solid in goal throughout the year. Stott now holds the record for most saves in a career, and has given up a paltry .64 goals against per game. Joining her on the tournament run is classmate Maeve Reynolds ’22 and Malaya Anaba ’25.
Amherst won its opening D-III tournament game to advance to the quarterfinals. That game is set for Saturday at 3 p.m. at Amherst’s home rink.