2002 NCAA Division III Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

The 2002 NCAA Division III Women's Ice Hockey Tournament was a tournament to determine the Division III national champion in women's ice hockey.  This was the third time a national championship tournament at the Division III level had been held and was the first one sanctioned by the NCAA.
==Format==
Six teams qualified for a single elimination tournament held from March 5th to March 9, 2002, to determine a national champion. This was two more teams than the AWCHA tournament held in 2001. The conference tournament champions of the ECAC East, MIAC, and NESCAC received automatic bids to the tournament. Three at-large bids were also selected, two of which come from the aforementioned automatic-qualifier conferences. This is the first year in which NESCAC women's hockey teams broke away from the ECAC East to earn their own automatic bid. The Elmira Soaring Eagles and Manhattanville Valiants, the top two seeds in the tournament, received byes into the semifinals. The first round games were held at campus sites on March 5th. The semifinal and final rounds were held March 8 and 9 at Murray Athletic Center Arena of Elmira College, the highest seed in the tournament.
== Bids ==
=== Automatic Bids ===
* Eastern College Athletic Conference East champion: Manhattanville Valiants (1st appearance)
* Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion: Saint Mary's Cardinals (1st appearance^)
* New England Small College Athletic Conference champion: Bowdoin Polar Bears (1st appearance)
=== At-Large Bids ===
==== Pool B (Teams from non-AQ conferences) ====
* Elmira Soaring Eagles - ECAC West* (1st appearance)
==== Pool C (Non-champs from all conferences) ====
* Gustavus Adolphus Golden Gusties - MIAC (1st appearance^)
* Middlebury Panthers - NESCAC (1st appearance^^)
^^ = Middlebury appeared in the 2 AWCHA tournaments that predated the NCAA tournament
^ = Gustavus and Saint Mary's each appeared in 1 of 2 AWCHA tournaments that predated the NCAA tournament
* = ECAC West did not receive an automatic bid with only six teams, making them a pool B conference
== Misc. ==
* This is the 3rd of 10 consecutive national postseason appearances (AWCHA or NCAA) for Middlebury.
* This started a run of 7 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances for Manhattanville, 5 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances for Elmira, and 4 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances for Bowdoin.
* Gustavus and Saint Mary's played in back-to-back postseason appearances including the 2001 AWCHA tournament.
* As of 2021-22, this served as Saint Mary's last appearance in the national postseason.
* Elmira qualified for the tournament in their first year as a varsity Division III program.
== Seeds ==
East
# Elmira (24-1-1)
# Manhattanville (22-1-2)
# Bowdoin (23-3-1)
# Middlebury (19-2-1)
West
# Gustavus (21-4-2)
# Saint Mary's (21-5-1)
==Results==
=== First Round ===
Held at campus sites
-Dayton Arena - Brunswick, ME
-Don Roberts Ice Rink - St. Peter, MN
=== Semifinals ===
Hosted by Elmira College: Murray Athletic Center Arena- Horseheads, NY
=== Third Place ===
Hosted by Elmira College: Murray Athletic Center Arena- Horseheads, NY
=== Championship ===
Hosted by Elmira College: Murray Athletic Center Arena- Horseheads, NY
== Bracket ==
== Tournament Notes ==
*Elmira wins the national championship in their season as a varsity Division III program.
*The Manhattanville vs. Bowdoin national semifinal was the first overtime game in Division III women's ice hockey NCAA tournament history.
*There was no all-tournament team selected this year.
== Statistics ==
=== Skaters ===
Top Scorers
Player 	Team 	Pos.	Yr.	GP	G	A	P
Lindsay Palmer 	Elmira 	F 	Fr.	2 	2	5	7
Laura Hurd 	Elmira 	F 	Fr.	2 	4	1	5
Charissa Gawant 	Elmira 	F 	Fr.	2 	1	3	4
Ann Katz 	Gustavus 	F 	So.	3 	2	2	4
Sarah Moe 	Gustavus 	F 	Sr.	3 	2	2	4
Kenzie Stensland	Gustavus 	F 	Sr.	3 	3	0	3
Michelle Rennie 	Elmira 	F 	So.	2 	1	1	2
Kristin Sahlem 	Manhattanville	F 	Jr.	2 	1	1	2
Ali Annunziato 	Manhattanville	F 	So.	2 	0	2	2
Kirsten Olson 	Gustavus 	F 	Jr.	3 	1	1	2
Shelly Chessie 	Bowdoin 	F 	Jr.	3 	1	1	2
Marissa O'Neil 	Bowdoin 	F 	Fr.	3 	1	1	2
Beth Muir 	Bowdoin 	F 	Jr.	3 	0	2	2
=== Goaltending ===
Top Goaltenders (minimum 60 minutes)
Player 	Team 	Yr.	GP	W	L	SA	GA	GAA 	SV% 	SO	TOI
Renee Kirnan 	Manhattanville	So.	2 	1	1	60	2 	1.02	.967	0 	117:08
Emily McKissock	Bowdoin 	Jr.	3 	1	2	71	5 	1.64	.930	0 	183:20
Molly O'Donnell	Gustavus 	So.	3 	2	0	68	6 	2.29	.912	1 	156:55
Edith Racine 	Elmira 	Fr.	2 	2	0	51	6 	3.00	.882	0 	120:00
Category:2002 in hockey
Category:NCAA Division III Tournaments