Middlebury College claimed fifth place in the 2024-25 LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup Final Standings. The Panthers amassed 971.75 points, their most since earning third with 1,000.50 in the 2021-22 campaign. It is the 20th-consecutive year that Middlebury has grabbed a top-10 finish in the final standings. Emory earned its first cup with 1,198.75 points. Johns Hopkins (1,147) and Tufts (1,069) rounded out the top three. 

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The Panthers secured 200 of their points from two NCAA Championships. The field hockey team earned its seventh-straight crown with a 2-1 victory over the Jumbos in the title tilt. The women’s lacrosse program closed the season with its 11th championship in program history and fourth in a row.

Middlebury had four teams reach the NCAA Tournament alongside the field hockey squad in the fall, earning the second-most points across Division III (348). Men’s soccer advanced to the national semifinals for the first time since 2007 before falling 2-1 to eventual national champion Amherst. The squad finished 17-2-4, one victory behind the program record of 18 set by the 2007 NCAA Champion team. Volleyball put together a magical run, claiming its sixth NESCAC championship and its first NCAA Regional Final in 14 years. The women’s cross country team finished 22nd at the national meet to tally 52 points, while the men’s cross country program claimed 25th to post 49 points in the standings.

The Panthers had four teams secure points during the winter. Women’s ice hockey defeated Nazareth in the quarterfinals before falling to Amherst in the national semifinals. The Middlebury alpine and nordic ski programs combined for their best NCAA finish in 17 seasons with a sixth-place effort that earned 72 points. Bradshaw Underhill tallied two top-six finishes to grab All-American honors. Women’s swimming and diving closed the scoring by securing 42 points, headlined by an All-American swim in the 50-yard freestyle by rookie Anna McGrew.

Middlebury claimed 426.75 points in NCAA competition in the spring over seven sports. Women’s golf had a banner season with its first NESCAC crown and a share of sixth in the NCAA Championship for 72.75 points. The finish is the highest in program history. Men’s tennis grabbed its 12th conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Regional Finals. Under first-year head coach Olivia Leavitt, women’s tennis finished 10-0 in conference action en route to their initial NESCAC Title and a spot in the regional finals. Men’s lacrosse earned 50 points after making their 20th trip to the NCAA Tournament. Baseball grabbed its third conference championship in the last four seasons and reached the regional round before falling 4-3 to Cortland. The women’s track and field team closed out the point total with 38.5, headlined by two All-American First-Team honors by Audrey MacLean in the 3,000 steeplechase and 5,000.

For the second consecutive year, Colorado College claimed the gold medal in Branded Dynamic Collateral (Group III) for its 2024-25 hockey intro video at the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) “Best Of” Awards. 
 
Since 2021 (the opening of Ed Robson Arena), CC has worked with 3 Point Productions to create primary in-game videos. This video is shown in the arena immediately prior to CC’s starting lineup (after visiting team lineup has been announced).
 
“It is an honor to receive the NACMA Best of Award for Branded Dynamic Collateral,” assistant athletics director for marketing Jessica Bennett said. “This award reflects creativity, collaboration, and storytelling through powerful visuals. A special thank you to 3 Point Productions for being a valued partner from concept to execution. Together we created an impactful video element to enhance the atmosphere for hockey games at Ed Robson Arena.”
 
Initiated in 2003, the NACMA “Best Of” awards program honors outstanding achievement in marketing and promotions. Awards are presented in 16 categories, with each category divided into three groups based upon school size and conference affiliations to promote fairness.

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College women’s ice hockey team announced its 2025-26 schedule on Tuesday afternoon, as the team will begin a new era at the M&T Bank Center with a slate of 33 regular-season matchups against seven non-conference opponents and all 11 members of ECAC Hockey.

“The 2025-26 season is going to be an exciting one for our program and we are looking forward to getting on the ice at the M&T Bank Center,” said head coach Tony Maci. “Playing in a new arena will be a great opportunity to help our program improve, and hosting the Ice Breaker Tournament is going to be another special chance to showcase our program and the city of Schenectady.”

Union is slated to play 19 games at home in its first season at the brand-new M&T Bank Center, including eight of the team’s first 10 games of the year and eight of its 11 non-conference games overall.

Union opens the season at home on September 26 and 27, hosting Franklin Pierce University in the first two games ever played at the M&T Bank Center. Friday’s game is set for 6 p.m., followed by a 3 p.m. opening faceoff on Saturday.

The Garnet Chargers then hit the road for their first away series at Merrimack College on October 3 and 4, before returning to Schenectady to begin a three-weekend homestand, starting with a series against the University of New Hampshire on October 10 and 11 as part of Homecoming and Family Weekend.

Union hosts the defending national champions, the University of Wisconsin, along with the University of Vermont and Saint Anselm College for College Hockey Inc.’s Ice Breaker Tournament on October 17 and 18. The Garnet Chargers will face Saint Anselm in the opening round on Friday, followed by a matchup with either Vermont or Wisconsin in the championship or consolation game on Saturday. ECAC Hockey play begins at home the following weekend, when Union welcomes Clarkson University and St. Lawrence University on October 24 and 25 for games against two of the seven ECAC teams that finished nationally ranked in the USCHO.com poll last season.

The following weekend, the Garnet Chargers travel to face Quinnipiac University and Princeton University on October 31 and November 1, before returning to the Capital Region to play Rensselaer in Troy on November 7 as part of a home-and-home weekend that concludes on November 8, in Schenectady. Union continues ECAC play by welcoming defending ECAC Hockey champions Cornell University and conference runner-up Colgate University to M&T Bank Center on November 21 and 22.

The garnet and white take a break from conference play to host the newest member of Division I hockey, the University of Delaware, on November 28 and 29, before wrapping up the first half of the season on the road at Harvard University and Dartmouth College on December 5 and 6.

The Garnet Chargers commence the second half of the season with road games at Yale University and Brown University on January 2 and 3. Union returns home the following weekend to host Princeton and Quinnipiac on January 9 and 10, before heading to the North Country for rematches against St. Lawrence and Clarkson on January 16 and 17.

Union wraps up non-conference play on January 24 with the annual Capital District Mayor’s Cup showdown against Rensselaer at MVP Arena in Albany, as the Garnet Chargers look to keep the trophy in Schenectady for a second straight year.

The Garnet Chargers conclude the regular season with a stretch of ECAC play, including home games against Brown and Yale (January 30 and 31), a road trip to Colgate and Cornell (February 6 and 7), and a final home series against Dartmouth and Harvard on February 13 and 14 before heading into the postseason.

Season tickets for the 2025-26 season are available now by visiting UnionAthletics.com/tickets. Benefits of season tickets include tickets to the Women’s Ice Breaker Tournament in October and the annual Mayors’ Cup games at MVP Arena; access to special events only for season ticket holders, including a preseason meet-and-greet with the men’s and women’s teams at M&T Bank Center; as well as other perks.

The Florida Panthers took a 2-1 series lead with a 6-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday night.

However, the blowout result came with some additional entertainment halfway through the third period, when a major brawl broke out between the two teams involving all 10 players on the ice.

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The melee appeared to begin with 9:33 remaining in the third period when Oilers center Trent Frederic cross-checked the Panthers’ Sam Bennett, breaking his stick in the process. Florida’s A.J. Greer and Edmonton’s Mattias Ekholm then mixed it up, followed by the Panthers’ Nate Schmidt and Oilers’ Connor Brown sparring. Defensemen Dmitry Kulikov and left winger Viktor Arvidsson also joined in fisticuffs.

However, the true standouts of this battle were Panthers winger Jonah Gadjovich and Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse. Neither of these combatants went to the ice as they kept hold of the other’s neck and sweater, locked in a violent dance, looking for an opening to land a punch.

Plenty of overhands and uppercuts were landed by each player as the Panthers fans cheered. Yet rather than try to separate Gadjovich and Nurse, officials let the fighters tire each other out until they couldn’t manage any more punches.

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After tensions settled and play resumed with a 5-on-4 Florida power play, Gadjovich, Nurse, Greer, Bennett, Ekholm and Frederic were each given 10-minute misconduct penalties, removing them from the remainder of the game. Edmonton’s Evander Kane was also issued a 10-minute misconduct for slashing Carter Verhaeghe — after he was slashed by the Oilers’ Evan Bouchard.

Yet the fighting wasn’t finished. Edmonton’s John Klingberg and Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk went at it from there, with Jake Walman joining in to help his Oilers teammate. That resulted in Walman drawing roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, which ended his night and gave Florida a 5-on-3 power play. But not before the Oilers’ Kasperi Kapanen and Panthers’ Eetu Luostarinen also mixed it up.

The Panthers scored on the 5-on-3 to boost their lead to 6-1.

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If the Oilers were hoping to take out some frustrations on Florida and try to intimidate them for the remainder of the series, that doesn’t appear to have worked at all. Edmonton also tried to start a fight at the end of the first period with the Panthers already ahead 2-0.

Again, that tactic accomplished nothing for the Oilers. Trying to out-tough the Panthers failed and made Edmonton looked outmatched.

Brad Marchand, Sam Reinhart, Aaron Ekblad, Evan Rodrigues, Verhaeghe and Bennett scored for Florida. On the Oilers’ side, Corey Perry scored the lone goal.

Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final is scheduled for Thursday at 8 p.m. ET. Will there be more fisticuffs or did both teams get all of that fighting out of their systems? Perhaps the Oilers will also remember that they’re supposed to be playing for a championship.

Christian Semetsis broke out with Mount St. Charles this past winter. (Brian Kelly/NEHJ)

Day 1 of the U.S. National Team Development Program’s Evaluation Camp in March was a practice session, scheduled before a grueling run of games over the next four days, which helped decide the final U-17 roster. The 40 players invited were split into groups of forwards and defensemen. Members of the latter started blasting shots from the point, eager to prove themselves in the biggest job interviews of their lives.

Then there was Christian Semetsis.

“Barely lifting the puck off the ice,” he said.

The left shot from Mount St. Charles was nursing a particularly nasty sprained left wrist he’d suffered in the Northeast Pack playoffs in February when he arrived in Plymouth, Mich. It was killing him. His shot wasn’t the only problem — he couldn’t hit anybody, either, and even the push-ups during off-ice training sessions hurt.

A federal judge has denied NC State cornerback Corey Coley Jr.’s attempt to play a fifth season of Division I , reasoning that NCAA eligibility rules aren’t subject to antitrust scrutiny and that even if antitrust law applied Coley’s bid would be nixed.

In an order issued last Friday, U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III sided with the NCAA and rejected Coley’s motion for a preliminary injunction. 

Coley is part of a growing group of college athletes who seek to extend their NCAA eligibility on account of NIL opportunities. This group has experienced mixed results in different courts across the country. As Sportico explained, the newly approved House settlement will make staying in school even more enticing given that some athletes will receive shares of revenue.

Coley, who played at Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville, Fla., began his college career in 2021 by enrolling at the University of Maryland. Coley expected to redshirt in his freshman year, which would have made him eligible to play through the 2025 season. However, injuries in the Terrapins’ secondary elevated Coley on the depth chart and into the lineup. 

Coley played three years at Maryland, during which he battled a knee injury. In 2023, Coley learned of the death of his uncle, who had played a “vital role” in his life. According to Coley’s complaint, the death had a profound and devastating impact on the young player. “Being far away from home made Coley’s grief from this death almost unbearable,” the complaint asserted, “and left him feeling isolated, helpless, distracted and unmotivated, which again, affected his performance both on and off the field.”

Coley transferred to NC State for his senior year. However, the season didn’t go as planned. Coley said he “endured mental health struggles” and suffered a season-ending injury in his sixth game of the season.

Coley and NC State applied to the NCAA for a hardship waiver, which if granted would have made Coley eligible this fall. The application cited Coley’s “collective struggles, both mentally and physically, through his collegiate career.” In February, the NCAA denied the application. Coley, who expects to earn his degree from NC State by the end of 2025, then sued the NCAA. 

Like other athletes, Coley argues that the NCAA restricting eligibility to four seasons in five years violates antitrust law. He asserts that by denying his eligibility, the NCAA will deprive him of “substantial NIL compensation.”

Coley’s case is based in part on an expansive interpretation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in NCAA v. Alston (2021). Although Alston is often linked by media to name, image and likeness, which derives from the right of publicity, NIL didn’t appear once in the ruling. That’s because the case concerned an altogether different topic: the compatibility of NCAA rules regarding education-related expenses with antitrust law. Alston clarified that NCAA compensation rules are subject to ordinary—and not deferential—scrutiny under antitrust law. 

Coley, and others, argue that Alston makes NCAA eligibility rules subject to ordinary antitrust scrutiny—and that eligibility rules illegally restrain the labor market of D-I college football players. That interpretation of Alston has helped Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia and Rutgers safety Jett Elad thus far succeed in their cases against the NCAA to keep playing. But judges reviewing other eligibility cases have rejected this interpretation as construing Alston beyond its actual words.

Dever endorsed a more literal interpretation of Alston. He wrote that Alston tackled NCAA rules regarding education-related benefits, but that those rules reflect only a “narrow subset” of compensation rules. 

The judge added that the relationship between NCAA eligibility and the ability to sign NIL deals does not convert eligibility rules into compensation rules. He cited cases holding for the proposition that eligibility rules aren’t subject to antitrust scrutiny, which governs commercial dealings. Eligibility rules fundamentally concern which college students can play a sport in accordance with academic and other university objectives. 

Dever also suggested that if NCAA eligibility rules violated antitrust law because they restrain NIL opportunities, that would “compel” a “nonsensical outcome.” The judge reasoned that there are numerous NCAA rules that “could potentially affect a player’s ability to earn NIL compensation” and that could be deemed violative of antitrust law under Coley’s test. Those rules concern such topics subject as: 

Dever also criticized the evidence presented by Coley regarding whether the eligibility rules have a sufficiently anticompetitive effect on the labor market of D-I football players to run afoul of antitrust law. The evidence presented concerned Coley’s NIL earning potential but said “nothing about a substantial anticompetitive effect on the labor market as a whole.” The judge added that “anecdotal experiences” of college football players do not rise to the level of evidence needed.

The denial of a preliminary injunction does not end the case. However, given that litigation can take months or longer and given that Coley wants to play this fall, Dever’s ruling deals a major blow to Coley’s chances to be eligible for the 2025 season. The cornerback can appeal Dever’s order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

In a written statement, an NCAA spokesperson said the NCAA “appreciates that the court’s ruling will allow the litigation to proceed its normal course, and we are confident that the underlying rationale for the rules and benefits to current and future student-athletes will be evident.”  The spokesperson also said that, in the NCAA’s view, “the rules for years of eligibility, along with other rules, are designed to help ensure competition is safe and fair, aligning collegiate academic and athletic careers to provide high-level opportunities and benefits to current and upcoming student-athletes.”