The unranked University of St. Thomas women’s hockey team will play No. 1-ranked Plattsburgh State University in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at 3 p.m. CST Saturday at Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena in Plattsburgh, New York.

“We’re very excited. We’ve been playing well,” head coach Tom Palkowski said. “At the start of the season we knew the only way we could get in is if we won the conference tournament.”

The Cardinals have claimed the title three straight years and seek to continue their tournament success for a fourth. Palkowski said the team is happy to be in the tournament but is preparing for a tough match up.

“They’re awfully good,” he said. “They’re the three time defending champs, but we’ve been out there two of the last three years and played them extremely tough. … We know they’re good but we’re looking forward to the challenge.”

The Tommies (14-10-4) won their fourth consecutive MIAC playoff championship last weekend by defeating No. 10-ranked Augsburg 3-2 in overtime. The victory secured an automatic tournament berth.

Plattsburgh State has an overall record of 25-1-1 and has not played the Tommies this season. The Cardinals won their fifth straight and seventh overall Eastern College Athletic Conference to receive an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

Forward Melissa Sheeran has been the driving force for the Cardinals’ offense with 29 goals in 26 games and was named ECAC Women’s West Player of the Year. For the Tommies, MIAC Player of the Year Kathryn Larson leads the team with 18 goals in 28 games.

In the 2014 NCAA tournament, the Cardinals ended the Tommies’ season with a hard-fought 1-0 overtime victory in the semifinals. The following year St. Thomas’s season ended in similar fashion, when Plattsburgh State defeated the Tommies 4-1 in the quarterfinals. Both years the Cardinals claimed the NCAA Division III title.

“They’ll be very difficult, so it’ll be up to us to go out and execute our gameplan and see what happens,” Palkowski said. “We’ll try to survive and advance.”