Rowan women’s ice hockey returns to the ACHA national tournament

After 27 games and countless on and off-ice practices, the Rowan women’s ice hockey team will travel to St. Louis, Mo., on March 15 to compete for a 2026 American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) national championship. This will be the program’s fifth appearance on the national stage in the last seven years. 

The women’s ice hockey team is one of 51 Rowan Campus Recreation-sponsored sport clubs at the university. Club sports are entirely student-run and funded organizations providing students with a variety of chances to participate in competitive and recreational athletic activities. Even though they lack an NCAA designation, extramural club-sport athletes still commit much of their time and energy to chasing victories.

The women’s ice hockey team rosters more than 20 players, recruits across North America and competes against some of the biggest schools in the country, like The Ohio State University and the University of Wisconsin. Led by coaches Dan and Dillian DiMonte, they spend at least two days a week practicing at the Hollydell Ice Area in Sewell. Senior defenseman Maggie Bowman says the team amped up the level of commitment this year by adding off-ice strength and conditioning work to their practice schedule this year. 

The Profs hold a Division II (W2) designation in the ACHA and compete in the Delaware Valley Collegiate Hockey Conference (DVCHC). During the regular season, they finished second in the DVCHC with 19 wins, 6 losses and 2 overtime losses and fell to the U.S. Naval Academy in the conference tournament semifinals. 

The ACHA’s W2 National Championship sees 16 teams qualify. The organization's four conference champions receive automatic bids to the tournament, with the rest of the spots decided based on regional ranking. Finishing second in their conference and performing well throughout the year, Rowan earned  a coveted at-large bid to nationals as a Southeast region squad.

Those 16 teams are broken up into four pools of four with a round-robin group stage. The first-place teams from each group then move on to the win-or-go-home semifinals and final. The Profs are grouped with The Ohio State University, Sault University and Providence College, opening their schedule with their first matchup against the Friars on March 15. As the team gears up for competition, they will lean on lessons and moments from throughout the season. For senior captain Sofia Probst, it’s the back-to-back wins against Villanova and Delaware that taught the team how to thrive in big games.

“We shut them out in both games,” said Probst. “They were huge wins for us on both of their senior nights on their home ice. That really solidified the difference between us going to nationals over either one of those two teams.” 

The Profs welcomed ten freshmen to the program this year, sending out a relatively young lineup night in and night out. Yet, cohesion and selflessness exist without concern for class year or experience, and everyone is bought into the upcoming championship run. 

“You could see that everyone on this team would do anything on or off the ice for everyone else,” said junior defenseman and club president Kiran Flieg. “We don't play for ourselves, we play for one another, and it’s always been one of the most important things about this program to play for the good of everyone on the team, not just for yourself.”

On top of the team’s commitment to the culture built by players and mentors who came before them, a tangible level of pride exudes from its leadership group. The program’s entrepreneurial roots speak to what it means to play a club sport at the collegiate level, which might just be what gets them over the hump in 2026. According to Probst, some of the other teams at nationals have a private rink on campus or NCAA Division I women’s hockey players on their roster. 

“We built everything that we've earned,” said Probst. “I think it's really special. And for incoming players to see that is a powerful message.”

The first puck drop for the Profs is 7:45 p.m. EST on March 15, with the final two group games occurring on March 16 and 17. Watch all three games live on FLOHockey.